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AI.55i,lS

HISTORY

OF

ILLINOIS,

TO ACCOMPANY AK

HISTORICAL MAP

OP THE STATE.

By RUFUS BLANCHARD.

CHICAGO :

NATIONAL SCHOOL FURNISHING OOMPANT.
Nos. 34 AND 86 Madison Stilbbt.

1883.

i^S ^(^i-z-u. IC

cotr

•€

'^'

DZC 2 1937

1(B!<^*

M

/ji-i^Cy^Ji^Jcc^xJi^^

OOPYRIGHTED:

By RUPUS BLANCHARD.

1888.

^

PBEFi^OB.

PREFACE.

In presenting this work to the Public, and especially to
the people of Illinois, we are prompted by two motives, one
to aid the student of to-day in fixing the most notable events
in the history and development of the State clearly in the
mind, and the other, still more important, to preserve in con-
densed form for the future what is known to-day of its his-
tory. The researches of Mr. Blanchard, partly given in his
" History of the Northwest," and his " Historical Map of the
United States," led to this more detailed work on the State of
Illinois, as the most permanent and desirable form of present-
ing the valuable data on the history of the State which has
been gathered by him through years of labor.

A trite saying, '' stick a pin there," as alluding to the estab-
lishment of a fact and its proper location, has been kept in
mind in this work, and Mr. Blanchard has stuck pins and
labeled them all over the State, simplifying and localizing its
history, so plainly that " he who runs may read."

THE PUBLISHERS.

INTEODUOnON.

INTRODUCTION.

Two large valleys extend into the innermost centre of a
continent, and a broad plateau of fertile soil intervenes between
them. This is Illinois — a connecting link and portage ground
from one of them to the other. Had it been an arid waste or
an impregnable mountain uplift, it would have been a barrier
— a separatrix between them ; but, in the economy of Nature,
the national interests of Illinois are inseparably connected with
those of both.

From its first discovery, the physical geography of this
country attracted the attention of the French, and their early .
occupation of it shows the importance they attached to it.
Three nations have contended for possession of it — Spain,
France and England, but a new nation possesses it by right of
" manifest destiny."

To leave her history out of American records would leave an
unbridged chasm — ^it would be like cutting off the tap root of
a tree and leaving its trunk without support.

When the Jamestown and Plymouth colonies were contend-
ing with a stubborn soil, their ambitions limited to their daily
wants, France was laying the dimension stone in the Illinois
country for the central base of her American empire, and to
this end she built Ft. Chartres here, the most impregnable
fortress then known in the Westeifn World. These high hopes

6 INTBODUOnON.

that she then cherished have been realized — not by her, but by
a new nation, and it is not too much to say that the history of
Illinois records a past and presages a future that finds a par-
allel only in the history of the United States, of which it forms
80 important a part, and anything that afiects her affects the
whole. If the centre is jarred, the circumference is shaken.

Youth of Illinois : You who are to inherit such responsi-
bilities may laudably feel a State pride which will heighten
your ambition to do honor to her name.

THE AUTHOR.
Whbaton, Junb, 1883.

AUTHOBITIES CONSULTED.

AUTHORITIES CONSULTED.

State papers and public documents, the current historic lit-
erature of the Northwest, and many rare works now out of print
have been at my command in the preparation of this work.

But besides all these, I owe lasting obligations to Mr. J. G.
Shea, of New York, whose contribution cites authorities not
to be questioned regarding the settlement of Kaskaskia. This
will confer a favor on many writers who have heretofore been
in doubt, both as to the date and circumstances attending this
early settlement and mission ; to Mr. H. W. Beckwith, of
Danville, 111., whose chapter on the Indian tribes of Illinois,
with maps accompanying, is compiled from researches of many
years in this department of the history of our State ; to Mr.
E. M. Haines, of Waukegan, 111., whose chapter on the Indian
names of Illinois will be gratefully received by all who wish to
retain these examples of the beauty and euphony of the Al-
gonquin language ; to Mr. Joseph Gillespie, of Edwardsville,
111., whose contribution on early settlements is made largely
from his personal knowledge, he having come to the State in
1819 ; to Mr. Aaron W. Kellogg, of Springfield, for his article
on the powers and responsibilities of the State oflices, and the
duties of each department in the present government of the
State ; to Mr. Milo Erwin, of Marion, for information regard-
ing the route of General George Eogers Clarke to Kaskaskia

8 AUTHORITIES CONSULTED.

and Vincennes ; and, finally, to the many early settlers through-
out the State whom I have had the pleasure to meet and con-
sult, and whose valued aid has enabled me to date and locate
many events that enhance the value of the work, and in some
cases establish historical data that might otherwise have been
lost.

JAMESTOWN-PLYMOUTH. 9

CHAPTER L

DISCOVERY.

The student of history delights in a good foundation on
which to start to write history, without which, it is like begin-
ning in the middle of a story.

Jamestown was the starting place for American National
History. The men who in 1 607 settled there were loyal to
English institutions and to everything that was English
whether it was law, religion or politics. Some of them were
too lazy to work but not too lazy to fight, some of them could
do both, all of them were pets of the English Government, and
subsequently this colony was the first to repel French aggres-
sion when the territorial issue between France and England
came up in 1753.

The settlement of 1620 at Plymouth was the next. The
men who composed this were essentially different from the
Jamestown colonists. The sublime principles of English
liberty to them were no empty name. They meant every thing
they said, and to them they meant religious as well as civil
liberty. That they were pioneers in both, the sequel proved,
for though they were at first a sort of elephant on the hands of
the crown that it was glad to get rid of, they subsequently led
the way to reforms and improvements in State affairs that the
parent government was forced by the progress of civilization
to adopt. They also laid the foundation of our American in-
stitutions as they are to day, and the laws of Illinois as well
as those of all other States of the Union are the fruitage of the
seed they planted on the coast of Massachusetts, but modified

10 GULF OF ST. LAWRENCE DISCOVERED.

to suit the demands of a more practical age, and an age of still
broader eligious freedom than they ever thought of or would
have ad ocated. The seed they planted grew into a larger tree
than the parent plant, and all because the soil of the west was
richer and its fields larger. Hence the source of the political,
social, religious and educational laws and customs of Illinois,
for these grew from the church, the school-house and from
fireside attractions that make the young and the old love their
homes. The history of all this is made interesting by even the
pictures on the walls of these homes. Our poetry, our romance
and our drama are based on this history; and even our family
pride would lose its point if not associated with its grandeur.

The discovery and exploration of the Illinois Country, as it
was called at first, forms a chapter in history full of varied
material for the historic pen. Spain took the lead in American
discoveries during the reign of Charles V., who was then the
most powerful monarch of Europe. The large amounts of gold
brought by his fleets from the new world, stimulated the ambi-
tion of the French king to participate in western adventures, and
to this end an expedition was planned to explore its northern
coast sufficiently remote from the Spanish claims of Florida not
to come in competition with with them. The command of the
expedition was given to Jacques Cartier, it sailed from St. Malo
in the spring of 1534, Charles V. protested against its sailing
to make discoveries in the new world which he claimed as the
heritage of Spain alone, to which Francis the French king re-
plied " I should like to see the clause in Father Adam's will and
testament which bequeaths to Spain alone so vast an heritage."*

The Gulf of St. Lawrence was entered directly after the ar-
rival of Cartier's fleet and he named it after the Saint whose
name it bears. The following spring he returned, pushed his
way up the St. Lawrence river and wintered in the vicinity
of Quebec among the Indians who entertained their new guests
with the best they. had. As soon as navigation opened the

♦Graham's Colonial History.

QUBBBO SBTTLSD. 11

next spring Oartier retuTDed to France and reported what he
had seen.

The great highway to the interior had been opened to view,
but it appeared like a barren discovery for it was not then
known what laid beyond the rock-clad headlands of the St.
Lawrence, and it was not till 1608 that the French colonized
their possessions on its banks. This was done nnder King
Henry IV. by Samuel de Champlain at Quebec. Here began
on the waters of the St. Lawrence the work of exploration
destined to bring to light the entire Valley of the Mississippi
to which it was at that time the only avenue, for the Spanish
guarded the Gulf of Mexico with a jealous eye, and to have ap-
proached the interior across the country would not have been
allowed by the Five Nations or Iroquois, who then held the
intervening country between it and the Hudson river as far
south as the Allegheny mountains.

Champlain established French authority at Quebec and as soon
B8 the natural obstacles to further explorations would admit of it
French missionaries and French far traders pushed forward
into the interior and established forts and mission houses.
In 1615 Champlain himself on a tour of exploration discovered
Lake Huron and named it after a tribe of Indians on its shores.

In 1641 French missionaries hlad reached the outlet of Lake
Superior, and in 1658 traders had reached its western extrem-
ity and made the acquaintance of the Sioux — the same war-
like nation whose descendants, under their chief Sitting Bull,
overwhelmed the army of General Custer among the Black
Hills in 1877, killing all but one of them. From them the
first tidings of " the great river that flowed southward to the
sea," came to the French. This information stimulated their
zeal to explore it, and to this end Father Marquette, a priest,
and Joliet, a trader, under patronage of Talon, Intendent
of Canada while Frontenac was Governor, started with two
canoes and five service men from the mission of St. Ignace,
opposite the island of Macinac. Holding their course along the

12 DI800VEBT OF THE MISSISSIPPI.

northern shore of Lake Michigan, they soon entered the waters
of Green Bay, and arriving at its head they rested a short time
at the mission of St. Francis Xavier, which had been estab-
lished four years previously. From this outermost limit of
French occupation they took their final departure from the
abodes of civilization into the great unknown wilderness before
them. By the advice of the Indians they were directed into
the path which led to the elbow in the "Wisconsin river at the
present site of Portage. Here they launched their two bark
canoes into the river and continued on their way till its mouth
was reached in the rolling surges of the Mississippi, whose
turbulent waters contrasted strangely with the Wisconsin,
which held its quiet course sometimes under the brow of a
precipice and sometimes in a deep channel through prairie
sand-bars. Marquette was delighted with the discovery of
" the great river," then without a name, and he christened it
the Conception Kiver in honor of his patron saint, "the
Blessed Virgin." The discovery was made on the I7th of
June, 1673. Down its current the travelers passed through
the great amplitude of wild nature that spread out in limitless
prairies on either side, and on which countless herds of buffalo
found pasturage. No signs of human life had yet been seen
in the immense country through which they had passed since
they left the mission house at Green Bay, but on their arrival
at the mouth of the Des Moines river human foot-prints were
discovered on its banks.

This excited the explorers, especially Marquette, whose chief
object was to bring the light of the gospel to new nations,
while that of Joliet was to open a way for French alliances
with the inhabitants of the country, with an ultimate view of
occupying it jointly with the natives after they had been con-
verted to Christianity under the teaching of the missionaries.
The loving relations between the French and the Indians were
always consistent with this theory, but fortune in the future
had a different fate in store for both. The footprints seen by

DISCOVERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 13

the explorers were followed, and after two leagues three Indian
villages were seen on the banks of the Des Moines. They
were of the Peoria tribe of the Illinois Indians, and now an
interview between the French and these tribes is about to
take place. Soon as the approach of the strangers had at-
tracted the attention of the villagers, four chiefs advanced to
meet them. " Who are you ?" called out Marquette in Algon-
quin dialect. " We are lUini," replied one of their chiefs.
This word in their language meant men, and therefore the
word mini was not intended to be understood in a generic
sense by them, but as significant of the humane intentions
which they vouchsafed towards their distinguished guests, and
which profession they never dishonored in their future inter-
course with them They also intended by this reply to dis-
tinguish themselves from the Iroquois, whom they stigmatized
as beasts on account oftheir cruel modes of warfare, the force of
which they had felt. A pleasant interview followed, in which
the Indians entertained their visitors with the best varieties of
food their hands could prepare, among which the " delicious "
dog meat was not forgotten. The rest was made up of buffalo
meat, fish and hominy.

Marquette never lost an opportunity to advocate Christianity
to his savage hearers, and on this occasion told them of the
crucifixion of Christ and the plan of salvation, all of which
was politely received by his untutored audience, whose desire
to cultivate the good will of the French was stimulated by fear
of the Iroquois, from whose invasions they looked to them for
protection.

With friendship on both sides the explorers took their leave
the next morning, which was the 25th of June, and continued
their course down the river.

On arriving at the mouth of the Ohio, a roving band of
Indians were met. They were armed with guns, probably
obtained from the English colonists. A few pleasant courte-
sies were exchanged with them, and the travelers passed on

14 DISOOVEKT OF THE MISSISSIPPI.

and were soon buried in the gloomy forests of cottonwood
that shadow the banks of this river in its immensity below the
mouth of the Ohio — majestic in its monotony and grand in
its solitude.

Through these silent realms they made their way along with
the current to the vicinity of the Arkansas river, where the
scene changed. Here was life again, and a different people.
The young men assailed them with their war clubs, but hap-
pily the old men came to the rescue in time to prevent any
damage by ordering a suspension of hostilities. Pending this
new danger, Marquette presented the calumet and called upon
the Holy Virgin to protect them, and in his devotion gave to
her all the glory for their deliverance.

A friendly interview followed, and the explorers were con-
ducted with much ceremony to the houses of the natives and
feasted with fish and hominy, the dishes from which they ate
being earthenware of native manufacture. The night was
spent among them, though not without misgivings as to the
abiding character of the hastily improvised friendship which
these southern tribes had made up.

The ever-ready gospel was dispensed to them through an in-
terpreter who understood the Illinois tongue in. which Mar-
quette addressed his passionless audience, and the next day,
which was the 19th of July, the explorers started on their
return.

From what they had already seen, they were convinced that
the '* great river " emptied into the Gulf of Mexico, and to go
farther would be exceedingly dangerous, not only from the In-
dians, but from Spanish explorers who might be encountered
on the lower waters of the river.

Constant toiling at the oar in a few weeks brought them to
the mouth of the Illinois river, into which they entered and
kept up the stream till the village of the Kaskaskias, near the
present site of Utica, was reached. Here they were again re-
ceived with true Illinois friendship of no doubtful character.

DISCOVERY OF THE CHIOAGOU PORTAGE. 16

After the inevitable feast of sagamite (hominy), added to which
was the equally inevitable blessing of the pious missionary, the
journey was again resumed under an escort of Indian guides
who volunteered to accompany the Frenchmen to the Chicagou
portage. 'Twas in the month of September when they arrived
at the place, then a broad waste of grass and prairie flowers,
channeled by two lazy streams that met from opposite direc-
tions and, united, flowed, or rather formed a connection, with
the lake. This was Chicago as nature made it and as these
men, who were unquestionably its first discoverers, saw it. The
Indians and the Frenchmen here parted company, the former
starting back to their home, and the latter coasting along the
west bank of Lake Michigan toward Canada. On arriving at
a point opposite the mission of St. Francis Xavier, Marquette,
being sadly in need of rest, in consequence of sickness, took
refuge at the mission-house, while Joliet continued on his route
to Canada to report what the two had discovered to Frontenac,
the governor. On the 25th of the following October^ Father
Marquette was partially recovered from his malady, and set out
on a return trip to visit the Kaskaskia village on the Illinois
river. Two young Frenchmen, Pierre and Jacques, and a del-
egation of Indians sufficiently numerous to fill ten canoes, ac-
companied him. Their route was across a narrow neck of land
intervening between the head of Green Bay and Lake Michi-
gan by a portage, thence along the shore of the lake to the
Chicago river.

' Twas the 4th of December when he arrived at this then
desolate portage. The river was sheeted over with ice, which
suspended canoe navigation, but what was far more unfortun-
ate, the Father was again prostrated by a return of his malady.
To proceed was impossible, and to remain at the comfortless
place was a grievous, but the only alternative.

A cabin was built, probably on the south ranch of the
Chicago river towards its source, which at that time was what
has since been called Mud Lake. This lake was a succession

16 DEATH OF MASQUBTTB.

of sloughs connecting with the Desplaines river, and forming
good canoe navigation all the way in high water, but during
the summer months was drained of its surplus waters and left
a stagnant pool. The two faithful companions of the invalid
did their best to keep him comfortable as far as the hasty cabin
which they made for him could do it. The Father kept a
journal, and from it we learn that roving bands of Indians
sometimes visited him and brought game, and that not far
distant a trader had recently established a post, and he some-
times brought such succor to the missionary as the wilderness
afforded.

Winter did not break till late in March, on the 30th of
which month, says the journal, the ground on which the cabin
stood was overflowed by an excessive rain, and they were forced
to leave the spot for a more elevated one. The last item on
his journal bears date of April 6th, and two days later he was
at the Kaskaskia village, near where Utica now stands, from
which it would appear that the freshet had carried the canoe
in which they traveled rapidly to the place.

Here the devout missionary exerted himself to his utmost
limit to establish a mission among the Illinois tribes, who ap-
pear to have won his solicitude from the first. He named the
mission The Immaculate Conception, and spent his last vital
energies in it to bring to the understanding of his willing but
unteachable hearers the Christian plan of salvation.

After remaining a few days with his savage flock, he felt
that he could barely survive long enough to reach Canada, and
he with his companions started on their return. They chose
I heir route along the eastern shore of Lake Michigan. On
arriving at the place now known as Sleeping Bear Point, he
died at their place of encampment on the shore, and was buried
by his attendants. The next year his remains were disinterred
by a band of Indians, carried to the Mission of Saint Ignace,
just opposite Mackinaw, and buried beneath the chapel with
impressive ceremony. In 1877 an attempt was made to dis-

mabqubtte's remains. 17

cover his bones, which resulted in finding two of them only.*
The record of his discovery of the Mississippi will be as en-
during as our literature. It forms the opening chapter of our
State history, and cannot fade into oblivion as long as our na-
tion lasts.

* Blanchard's Northwest, Chap. I.

18 LA SALLE.

CHAPTER IL

THE FRENCH IN HiLINOIS.

When Joliet parted iVoiii Marquette at Green Bay, as tolcT
ill tlie foregoing chapter, he kept on his route towards Canada,
stopping on the way at Fort Frontenac, at the outlet of Lake
Ontario. Here he met Kobert de La Salle, who held com-
mand of the place. Already he had distinguished himself by
his discovery of the Ohio river five years previously, and it is
hardly to be doubted that the two explorers conferred together
as to the geography of the country, and especially as to the
new discovery of the Mississippi, of which Joliet had ample
notes and maps, just made by himself, while treading the first
pathway made by white men through the interior.

After leaving Fort Frontenac, Joliet had the misfortune to
lose all the records of his discovery by the upsetting of his
canoe in the St. Lawrence river, just above Montreal, and
through the delay occasioned by this accident, or some other
cause not now known, no official account of his discovery was
published till 1681, at which date it appeared on Thevenot's
map, issued at Paris, and reproduced by various others since.
Marquette drew a map of the " Conception river," together
with the outlines of the lakes, which was a marvel of accuracy
considering the material he had to work with. It has been
republished by Shea, and copied from his reprint by many
others. The original is now in St. Mary's College, Montreal.

After the interview between Joliet and La Salle, the latter
at once determined to utilize the work so auspiciously begun
by extending the exploration of the Mississippi to its mouth,

THE GBIFFIN. 19

and ultimately establishing a colony there. The St. Lawrence
valley, the lake country, and the entire valley of the Missis-
sippi were but the limits of his ambition. On these France
was to be reproduced in the New "World, and the Illinois
country was to be the central base. of operations wherewith to
accomplish these designs. The first step to be taken in this
direction was to secure a foothold at the eastern extremity of
Lake Erie by building a fort at the place.

The Senecas, an Iroquois tribe, held this country at the
time, and it required no small amount of persuasion, accom-
panied with several " fathoms of tobacco " and other presents,
to overcome the misgivings of these Indians as to the policy
of allowing the fort to be built, but La Salle was equal to the
emergency, obtained their consent, and built the fort in 1678,
at the mouth of the Niagara river.

The next year he built a vessel above the falls and named it
The Griffin. She was launched early in the spring, and in
the following summer was loaded with her cargo, which con-
sisted of a forge, ship carpenter's tools, and the iron work for
a vessel to be built on the banks of the Illinois river. With
this vessel La Salle intended to go down the Mississippi river
to its mouth, and there establish a colony with which to hold
the whole country drained by its waters.

"With this design he set sail in the Griffin on the 7th of
August, 1679. Thirty-four men joined him, most of whom
were those enlisted in his service. Tonty, his faithful lieu-
tenant, and four priests, prominent among whom was Henne-
pin, were included in the number. The vessel safely arrived
at Green Bay, where her cargo was unloaded and transferred
to small boats, thence to be transported to the Illinois river
with the men, while the Griffin was loaded with a cargo of
furs and sent back to the place from whence she came.

At that time there were two traveled routes from the Illi-
nois river country to Lake Michigan, both of which were older
than history. One was by the way of the Desplaines and

20 FOBT CBBVE CCEUB.

Chicago rivers, between which was a portage of about nine
miles, except in very high water, at which time Mud Lake
connected the two. The other was by the way of the St.
Joseph river to the elbow where South Bend, Indiana, now is,
thence by a portage to the source of the Kankakee river, and
down it to the Illinois. La Salle chose the latter, and, after
much detention by storm, he with his whole force arrived at
the broadening of the Illinois river, where Peoria now is,
about the first of January, 1680. Time was precious with
him, and it was important that he should set about his work
immediately. But before it could be begun, consent from the
Indians to build a fort must be obtained, and consent to build
a vessel was equally necessary before the work could safely be
attempted. This was readily obtained from the pliant Illi-
nois, and the work was begun. The fort, which was only a
stockade of logs, was soon finished, and this was the first thing
done on the soil of Illinois with a view to permanent occupa-
tion. It was situated on the eastern bank of the river, at the
southern extremity of Peoria Lake, and named Fort Oreve
Coeur — Broken Heart. It was probably so named to memorize
the hardships that had crossed the path of La Salle while con-
centrating his force and materials at this spot in the depths of
a continent.

The keel was laid for the intended vessel near by the fort,
but before work on it had advanced far, some of his men de-
serted, partly for want of pay, and, perhaps, partly through a
disposition to cut loose from restraint in the broad creation of
savage freedom then omnipresent in the Illinois country.
This unlooked for hindrance made it necessary to suspend
work on the vessel, but the end in view was not lost sight of,
and La Salle determined to return to Canada to enlist a fresh
force of men.

On the first of March he started with five companions, one
of whom was an Indian. Winter still hung over the country,
and the small streams were not yet released from its icy grasp,

HEB0I8M OF TONTT. 21

and when the travelers had reached the upper tributaries of
the Illinois river the canoes by which they came had to be
abandoned, and all their supplies, including camp outfits,
packed on their shoulders. When the western extremity of
Lake Erie was reached, a canoe was made with which to per-
form the rest of their journey by water, and in it La Salle and
one of the men embarked, alter sending the other four up the
Detroit to Michilimacinac to rest, for they were spent with
fatigue and sickness. La Salle arrived at Fort Frontenac on
the 6th of May. While he had been painfully toiling on foot
through the oozy savannas of the forest to reach Canada for
new recruits of men, disasters had been accumulating at the
base of his operations in the front. Soon after his departure
nearly the whole remaining force not only deserted but dis-
mantled the fort and threw its contents into the river. This
was done during the temporary absence of Tonty, whom he
had left in command. Only six of the entire force had re-
mained faithful, two of whom were priests. With these the
heroic Tonty put forth his best efforts to inspire the respect of
his savage companions till the return of La Salle to carry out
his projects, for it was essential to his success to retain a foot-
hold here. The deserters had done their worst, and the sum-
mer passed in the listless inaction of Indian communities
when there is nothing to do but to cultivate a patch of corn,
but on the 10th of September, sudden as a clap of thunder in
a clear sky, came an Iroquois invasion. By a happy chance
this advancing army had been espied in the distance at least a
day's march away, and the news was carried in hot haste by
fleet-footed runners to the Illinois village.

They were in no condition to defend themselves, but Tonty,
who was their friend, just before the battle took it upon him-
self to act the part of a mediator, and even after the skirmish-
ing had begun, interposed between the two armies and ad-
vanced into the Iroquois camp.

22 lEOQUOIS INVASION.

The battle was suspended by this daring act, and the furious
warriors gathered around him, some bent on killing him, while
others, more considerate, lent an ear to his proposals. In vain
he put forth his efforts to intimidate the haughty warriors by
exaggerating the force of his allies, they were not to be balked
of their prey, and Tonty was allowed to retire, but bleeding
with a wound which a faithless warrior had given him in a fit
of rage at his effrontery.

It was evident to Tonty that the Illinois would be worsted
in the encounter, and inasmuch as his presence would not save
them, he with his five companions started for the mission
house at Green Bay. The Illinois fled down the river before
their foes, leaving everything they possessed behind, the most
valuable part of which was their corn. This was destroyed by
the ruthless invaders, who then returned to their hunting
grounds — the present State of New York — taking with them
a large number of female prisoners who fell into their hands
as the spoils of war. These were promptly adopted into
their tribe as supernumerary wives for the warriors of the
expeditioxi.

At the first night's encampment of Tonty' s party. Father
Ribourde strolled away a short distance for prayer and medi-
tation, when a renegade band of Kickapoos killed him, per-
haps to win his scalp to dangle from one of their belts as an
ornament, added to which might be the sacred cross of the
Father desecrated into an Indian trinket.

Tonty's party reached their destination after the loss of
Ribourde, but not without hardships and starvation, that taxed
their endurance to its utmost limit, and here the discomfited
fugitives rested for the winter.

La Salle had been successful in raising new recruits for his
enterprise, and in his haste to reach the Illinois country had,
with seven companions, pushed forward ih advance, while the
heavy material was being transported by the main body.

8UOOE8S OF J.A HA1.LK. 23

On arriving «t the Illinois village, instead of an expected
greeting from friends, the scene of the late destruction that had
again thwarted his plans opened before him in dumb silence.

There were no signs of human life there, but when night
came the yelps of wolves quarreling over the spoils of the
battle-field broke harshly upon its silence. Meantime the fate
of Tonty hung in painful suspense, but as no trace of his body
could be found among the ruins, hope partially relieved fear
that he was among the slain.

La Salle with his party now retraced their steps to Fort
Miamis, at the mouth of the St. Joseph river, where he met
his advancing men, and here they all spent the winter.

The neit spring La Salle set about the accomplishment of
his plans. Instead of a vessel, canoes were to be used, manned
with Frenchmen and Indian allies. The preparations for even
this simple mode of transportation required the whole sum-
mer and the following autumn.

The Indian tribes had to be conciliated, and an alliance
formed between the Miamias and the Illinois for mutual pro-
tection against the Iroquois, which, strengthened by French
alliance, satisfied the "Western tribes, and they all acquiesced
in La Salle's plans.

The mouth of the St. Joseph river was the place of rendez-
vous, and late in December had gathered there a convention of
Indians, from whom La Salle selected 18, who, added to his 23
Frenchmen, made a force of 41 men ; but among the Indians
were 10 of their wives and three children, a requisition on the
part of the red volunteers that La Salle did not see fit to dis-
allow, though such an incumbrance must have been distasteful
to him.

Tonty, who had been heard from and summoned to the spot,
led the advance, starting on the 21st of December along the
southern shore of Lake Michigan. The '^ Chicagou " route
had been determined on as the most direct, on arriving at
"Which place the river was found to be frozen over. But little

34 liA SALLK AT THK MOUTH OF THK MISSISSIPPI

detention was caused by this, for Toiity set liis men at work
making sledges for transportation ; and canoes, baggage, pap-
pooses and camp equipage were loaded on them and hauled
by the men rapidly over river and portage, till open water was
reached on the Illinois. Here the sledges were abandoned
and the canoe flotilla launched, which was to bear its diversi-
fied crew to distant and unknown lands, there to take posses-
sion of a destined French empire.

It arrived at the mouth of the Mississippi April 6, 1682,
and here a large cross was erected and a plate of lead buried
beside it, as monuments of French possession of the Missis-
sippi valley. Prayers, chants and shouts followed, in which
latter the guttural jargon of the Indians was mingled, prob-
ably with as little sense of the situation as the roaring of the
sea that rolled its surges against this lonesome solitude. The
country was named Louisiana, in honor of Louis XYL, and
the explorers left the historic spot to tug their way up the cur-
rent of the Mississippi.

On their arrival at the Illinois country, Tonty was consti-
tuted governor of it by La Salle, and now began the official
line of organized government here, though there was nothing
to govern at the time except a few zealous priests, who needed
no restraint, and a large number of Indians whom no legal
forms could restrain, added to whom were a score of fur-
traders, untractable and lawless as birds of passage, and almost
as transient in their erratic wanderings.

The first thing to do was to build a fort, without which no
authority could exist even in form The site for this was
chosen on what is now the summit of Starved Kock, near
Utica, on the Illinois river. This was done in December,
1682, and christened Fort St. Louis It proved a refuge of
safety, around which the Illinois tribes gathered with confi-
dence, and again the rich valleys which its heights overlook
swarmed with Indian life, bidding defiance to Iroquois inva-
sion from under the guns of French allies.

FBBNOH AND ENOJLI8H RIVALRY. 25

The cause of these invasions grew out of Englisli rivalry m
the ftir trade. Dongan, the colonial governor of New York,
famished the Iroquois with the material wherewith to make
them, and these defiant warriors were ever ready to do his bid-
ding, for they were dependent on the English for guns and
ammunition as well as many rude implements of civilization,
of which they had been taught the use.* In like manner such
Indians as were in alliance with the French espoused their
cause against the English, and often made hostile incursions
from Canada into the frontier English settlements adjacent.
Oovemor Dongan's headquarters were at Albany, and from
here he sent out men to intercept the trade of the French along
the lakes, for even in this early day the Western trade was a
coveted prize between the French of the St. Lawrence and the
English of the Hudson river. This trade has now multiplied
a thousand fold in value, and is chiefly secured to the Ameri-
cans by the Erie canal and the various railroads that connect
Illinois with the Atlantic seaboard.

On the return of La Salle to the Illinois country after his
exploration of the Mississippi, he learned with painful regrets
that Frontenac had been recalled from the governorship of
Canada, and La Barre put in his place. He was no friend to
La Salle, but, on the contrary, an enemy. He used his oflScial
authority against him by stopping all supplies from Canada
intended for the Illinois country, which had now become the
base of operations of the French in the interior, from which
advances could be made to carry out any designs of French
aggrandizement in the valley of the Mississippi, and if only a
moderate effort could be made to keep a few men there sup-
plied with ammunition, the trading interests would take care
of themselves and bring a revenue to the French crown.

In vain La Salle besought the new Governor to sustain him in
carrying out this policy. He was impervious to his entreaties,
and sneered at his labors and his plans as worse than useless.

♦Doc. Hist, of New York.

26 LA SALLE IN TEXAS.

La Salle now determined to go to France and make an ap-
peal to the king, and with this resolution left the Illinois
country late in the autumn of 1683 for Canada. On his way
he met a delegation from La Barre, under command of De
Baugis, armed with authority to assume command of Fort St.
Louis, and act as governor of the country. Tonty submitted
to his authority, and there appears to have been a good under-
standing between him and the new governor. Tonty, with
his characteristic force and courage, repelled an Iroquois inva-
sion which soon followed, although he was without official
authority.

La Salle sailed for France, reached the ear of the king, and
through the influence of his friends, together with his own
force of purpose, secured the royal favor.

Now the tables were turned. Tonty was restored to the
governorship of the Illinois country, and La Salle himself was
put in command of a fleet to sail for the mouth of the Missis-
sippi and establish a French colony at the place. By mistake
the fleet landed at Metagorda Bay, on the coast of Texas.
Here the ill-fated colony languished for two years, at which
time they were almost exhausted by disease and death, and
La Salle formed the resolution of going back to the Illinois
country to obtain succor. Selecting a few hardy companions
he started, but was assassinated by one of his own men on the
banks of the Trinity river. Seven of his party reached the
Illinois in safety, but the hapless colony all perished in their
forlorn hermitage. Tonty meantime held command at his
post, protecting French interests there and establishing an
authority which, but for the fortunes of the French and Indian
war of the next century, would have made Illinois a French
State, subject to a French king. The French settlements of
Southern Illinois were permanent, and were the first substan-
tial results of the foregoing discoveries and explorations.
Much uncertainty has hitherto existed as to the date of the
commencement of these settlements, but the following para-

SETTLEMENT OF KA8KA8KIA. 27

graph which Mr. J. 6. Shea has given to the writer will settle
the question:

"the mission of the immaculate conception among the

ka8ka8kias."

"This mission dates from September, 1073, when Father
Marquette visited the- Kaskaskias at their town on the upper
Illinois river. It bore the name Kaskaskia, and consisted of
sixty-nine cabins.*

" It was on the lUinoie river, about six miles below the
mouth of the Fox river.-j* Having promised to return and
establish a mission among them, he set out in November,
1674, wintered at Chicago, and on Easter, 1675, reached Kas-
kaskia, beginning the mission under the name of the Immacu-
late Conception.;}: Finding his malady increasing, he en-
deavored to reach Macinac, but died on the way. Father
Claude AUouez renewed the mission April 27th, 1677, and
continued it till La Salle's expedition reached Illinois. The
KecoUects began a mission at Fort Creve Coeur, but none at
Kaskaskia, and the mission there soon closed. Allouez sub-
sequently returned, and was succeeded in 1690 by Father
James Gravier, who established the mission on a firm basis
about 1693.||

" "Wh^ the French began a settlement at the mouth of the
Mississippi in 1699, several northern tribes prepared to go
down and settle there. The Kaskaskias went to the Missis-
sippi in 1700, but were induced to wait and settle at the pres-
ent Kaskaskia.^ The mission and town retained the old name.

"the MISSION AT CAHOKIA AND TAMAROA.

" This mission was founded about 1700 by Father Francis
Pinet, but the next year the mission was transferred from the

♦Discovery of the Mississippi, p. 51.
fLe Clercque, Vol. 11, p. 117.
JDiscovery of the Mississippi, p. 56.
JGravier's Relation, 1693.
ITGiuvier's Journal du Voyage.

28 FOBT GHABTBE8.

Jesuits to priests sent from the seminary of Quebec. Rev.
Mr. Burgur was the first. After a time they confined them-
selves to the care of the French settlers and left the Indians to
the Jesuits.* The Quebec priests remained at Tamaroa till
the fall of French power."

Not long after the settlements of Kaskaskia and Oahokia,
the circumstances of which have just been told by Mr. Shea,
other French towns were established near by them, altogether
constituting a thriving settlement midway between Canada
and the settlements at the mouth of the Mississippi river. To
protect them Fort Chartres was built, being finished in 1720.
It was at that time the strongest fort in North America.
Some relics of it still remain as a monument of French power
in Illinois, but part of it has been undermined by the wearing
away of the river bank, while much of the stone of which it
was originally built has been appropriated for private use. No
hostile shot was ever fired against its walls, and if French
power had been as invulnerable against attack at her outermost
limits as at this place, she would have remained the great
power in America till political revolution had wrought what
foreign foes were unable to do.

*Shea's CathoUc Mission, pp. 421-d.

^

THs OHIO ooMPAmr. 29

CHAPTER III.

ILLmOIS UNDER ENGLISH RULE.

From the previous chapter it is seen that French posses-
sions in America extended from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to
the Gulf of Mexico, including in its still but partially ex-
plored territory the whole country drained by the St. Law-
rence and Mississippi rivers.

The English colonies were then confined to a narrow belt
of land along the Atlantic coast, insignificant in size compared
to the French possessions.

As each of these nationalities increased in numbers and ex-
tended their settlements, the boundary question between them
came up, and increased in importance till the frontier occupa-
tion of the questionable territory by the two rival nations
brought their interests in collision with each other.

This rivalry took place on the headwaters of the Ohio river,
the first exciting cause of which was the formation of the
Ohio Company, under a grant from the English crown. This
grant was obtained by Mr. Hanbury, of London, for a tract of
country within the present limits of the State of Ohio. The
company was composed of eight associates, of whom Law-
rence, Augustine and George Washington were three. Meas-
ures were taken by the Ohio Company to occupy these lands
by commencing to build a fort where Pittsburg now stands,
but the men thus employed were driven away by a large force
of French and Indians, and this was the beginning of the
French and Indian war.

80 FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR.

The contest lasted from 1754 to 1769. It involved nearly
the whole of Europe in its struggle, for its issue was entangled
with the old question as to the balance of power on the conti-
nent. The Indian tribes of Canada, and those along the lakes
and the Ohio river, as well as the Iroquois of the New York
colony and the Delawares of the Susquehanna, were all on the
war-path to help settle this question, which was the most mo-
mentous one the world had yet seen, as the result has shown.

Wolfe's victory on the heights of Abraham, Sept. 13th,
1759, was the last and the decisive battle which settled it.
By the fiat of war the boundary line between the French
and English possessions in America was established on the
Mississippi instead of the Ohio river, and all the territory
east of this boundary, as far south as the Spanish possessions
of Florida, and the French settlements on the east bank of the
Mississippi south of the thirty-first parallel, fell into English
hands, according to the definitive treaty of peace which ter-
minated the war. The preliminary treaty, of which the de-
finitive one was the substance, was executed between General
Amherst, commander of the English forces, and M. de Van-
dreuil, French Governor of Canada, bearing date at Montreal,
September 8th, 1760. As soon as it was signed the English
proceeded to take possession of the immense country ac-
quired by it as fast as it could be done. To do this was a
work of no small magnitude, as the sequel proved.

The entire native population of the country had learned to
love the French during generations of harmonious relations
with them, and they had fought on their side during the late
war. Not an Englishman had then settled northwest of the
Ohio river; the Indians held the whole country with a tena-
cious grip, and had no, even distant fear, that the English would
ever be able to dispossess them of it. They were willing to
harbor them as traders, but that was all.

On the 29th of November, 1760, Detroit was taKen posses-
sion of by the English under Major Robert Rogers. The next

19

PONTIAC. 31

%

summer Michilimacinac, Ste. Maria, at the outlet of Lake Su-
perior, Green Bay, St. Joseph and Sandusky, were also taken
possession of by the English. These were all the places where
the French held posts in the conquered country which had not
fallen into the hands of the English during the war, except
Yincennes and Fort Ouatanon, on the Wabash, and the clus-
ter of French towns in Southern Illinois. Neither of these
two latter places, in their distant remoteness from the scenes
of the late war, had been even threatened with invasion. But
before any steps had been taken to establish English rule over
them, the western tribes, under Pontiac, determined to drive
the English from the new posts they had already occupied.
IVith this end in view a secret conspiracy was planned by
Pontiac, and a simultaneous attack made upon each, resulting
in the capture of all of them except Detroit and Fort Pitt
^Pittsburg). The Indians now reigned triumphant through-
out the entire northwest, and kept up the siege of Detroit
Tinder Pontiac, their great leader, till August 26th, 1763,
when the arrival of General Bradstreet with a large force re-
lieved the place and dispersed the red assailants who had
-closely pressed the garrison for over a year, and reduced them
to the verge of starvation.

Fort Pitt was also besieged, but not so closely, till General
Bouquet relieved the place during the same month It now
only remained to take possession of the French settlements of
the Illinois country, and Yincennes on. the Wabash, to fulfill
the provisions of the treaty at the termination of the French
and Indian war.

Four years had elapsed since the date of this preliminary
treaty, and the time seemed as distant as ever when the Eng-
lish could venture into the country with safety, especially as
sn immense domain of forest intervened between it and their
settlements along the Atlantic coast. The first attempt to do
this was to send a force up the Mississippi river, for the les-
son taught by the bloody experience of the late war with Pon-

82 ST. ANOE.

tiac had taught General Gage, the British oflScer now in com-
mand of America, a due degree of caution, and he did not
deem it practicable to send a force so far into wilds filled with
Indians of still doubtful friendship. Accordingly a force of
300 men under Major Loftus was dispatched from Bayou
Manchae, an English post on the Gulf of Mexico, to ascend
the Mississippi in barges to the French settlements in the Illi-
nois country. While laboring against the current on his way^
he was suddenly attacked by the Tonica Indians, who poured
a volley of shot among his men first from one side of the river
and then from the other, and he beat a retreat down stream,
abandoning farther attempts to reach the place in question.

The situation was now complicated in the extreme. Pon-
tiac, though driven from the field, was still a power among the
Indian tribes of the interior, with whom the French of South-
ern Illinois were on the best of terms, through motives of both
policy and friendship.

After being driven from Detroit, Pontiac had taken refuge
at the French villages of the Illinois, over whom the discreet
and benevolent St. Ange still exercised an authority both of-
ficial and paternal. To him Pontiac applied for succor to pro-
long the fight. It would not do to offend the fallen chieftain,
nor would it do to grant his request, and the governor was at
his wit's end for a ruse to get out of the dilemma ; still he
managed, by dint of much circumspection, to preserve the
friendship of the importunate representative of Indian inter-
ests without allying the French to his hopeless cause.

Pending these years of suspense French traders were driv-
ing a profitable business in buffalo hides and peltries, for
which merchandise they found a ready market at St. Louis
and New Orleans. This increased the diflSculties of carrying
out the provisions of the treaty, for when the English flag
should float over the ramparts of Fort Chartres, English mer-
chants would succeed French, and trade would seek an outlet
by the way of the lakes instead of down the river. Of so

GBOBOE OBOGAN. 38

much importance was the question of commercial rivalry be-
tween the French of New Orleans and the English of Detroit,
that Sir William Johnson, Superintendent of Indian Affairs,
was instructed by the London Board of Trade to take early
and effectual measures to secure the trade of the Illinois.* He
had in his employ at this time an able oflScer named George
Crogan, whose mission had been to act as his deputy at distant
points in the wilderness, and to him Sir William assigned the
task of going to the place in question to reconcile the inhab-
itants, both Indian and French, to the English, as a prepara-
tory step towards oflScial occupation. Fort Pitt was the place
from which he was to embark on the important but dangerous
mission Here he was detained a month to receive the last
installment of captives from the Shawanese, which they had
the year before stipulated by treaty to give up, and under an
impression that no time should be lost in sending an English
deputy to the Illinois, he dispatched an intrepid scout named
Frazier, with a few attendants, down the Ohio river, with
instructions to proceed immediately to Kaskaskia and inform
the authorities there that the agent of Sir "William Johnson
would soon follow, with power to act for him. Frazier
reached the place in due season, and was well received by the
inhabitants, but the traders soon got up a conspiracy to kill
him, for they well knew that his mission was unfavorable to
their interests. To save himself from their murderous hands
he sought the protection of Pontiac, and although this chief
hated the English with double intensity, nevertheless he was
a tenacious stickler for conventional formalities, and would
allow no violence done to the Englishman, whom he regarded
in the light of an ambassador.

It was early in May, 1766, that Crogan started down the
Ohio river from Fort Pitt. At various places on the way he
was detained to execute official business with Indian tribes,
and it was the 6th of June when he arrived at the mouth of

*See Johnson Papers in Doc. Hist, of New York.
S

34 PONTtAO MEETS GBOGAN.

the Wabash. No English delegation had ever before pene-
trated so far into the wilds except Frazier's party, and here he
encamped to take time to consider the situation. On the 8 th
he was attacked by 80 Kickapoo warriors; five of his men
were killed and he himself slightly wounded, when he gave up
liis command as prisoners. This skirmish took place on the
soil of Illinois, just below the mouth of the Wabash. Orogan
and his band were taken up the Wabash to Vincennes, which
was then a French village of eighty houses, near which was a
large Piankesha village.* By this time the Kickapoos had
discovered that their captive was a man not to be trifled with,
and they regarded him more in the light of a superior than a
prisoner.

Having been unable to reach his destination, he wished to
send a letter to St. Ange, the lawgiver and priest of the Illi-
nois country, and a messenger was promptly at his bidding to
carry it. The French furnished him the paper on which to
write it, but not till the Indians had given their consent. This
done, he was conducted up the river to Ouatanon, at which*
place he arrived the 23d. Here he was set at liberty, and
after holding councils with various tribes of the country, he
started on the 18th of July for the Illinois villages. On the
way he met Pontiac at the head of a delegation of Indians.
Hitherto this unrelenting warrior had refused all conciliatory
meetings with the English, but now for the first time his stub-
born resolution gave way, and he consented to confer with
Crogan as to peaceful relations, and the whole party returned
to Ouatanon for that purpose. * After their arrival at the
place Pontiac renounced his hostile policy, and promised to use
his influence in favor of peace. This, together with the general
acquiesence in the English occupation of the country already
obtained, was all Crogan could ask, and made it unnecessary
for him to visit the Illinois country according to his first in-
tention.

*Crogan*8 Journal.

ENGLISH POSSESSION OF ILLINOIS. 36

He now started for Detroit, where J)e again counseled with
the Indians, and from thence started for the headquarters of
Sir William Johnson on the Mohawk river, to whom he made
his report.

In accordance with the original plan, the military commis-
sion which was to follow Crogan embarked from Fort Pitt in
the autumn of the same year — 1765. It consisted of about
120 men from the 42d regiment of Highlanders, under Cap-
tain Sterling. They arrived at Fort Chartres by way of the
Ohio and Mississippi rivers on the 10th of October, and for
the first time within the limits of the present State of Illinois
the Lilies of France fell from the flagstaff, and the Cross of
St. George rose in its place.

This was the last official act that had despoiled France of
her transcendent possessions on the American continent, for
already she had, in 1762, ceded New Orleans and her territory
west of the Mississippi to Spain.

The French population of the Illinois villages at this time,
together with St. Louis, was about 2,000, added to whom were
about 500 slaves.

The first thing to be done after possession had been taken
was to issue the proclamation which General Gage had pre-
pared for the occasion. It guaranteed freedom to the inhab-
itants in religious matters as well as in their civil rights. But
the former was all the Frenchman of that day cared for. He
had no ambition to take a hand in the mysteries of govern-
ment or to make any nice distinction as to any other rights
except the right to obey his priest and his magistrate. Such
was the early Frenchman of Illinois — law-abiding, simple and
happy.

Three months after his arrival Captain Sterling died, and
Major Frazier succeeded him as governor. Early in the spring
the English troops left the country by the way of the Missis-
sippi river for Pensacola, from whence they sailed for Phila-
delphia, arriving there the 15th of June.

36 THE QUEBEC BILL.

Colonel Reed succeedjed Frazier as governor, but made him«
self odious to the inhabitants by an oppressive system of mill-
tary ruling ill suited to the former subjects of the benevolent
St. Ange.

The next in command was Colonel Wilkins, who arrived in
Kaskaskia Sept. 6th, 1768. On the 21st of September follow-
ing he received orders from General Gage to establish a court
of justice. Seven judges were appointed, and the first
English court ever convened in Illinois held its sessions at
Fort Chartres Dec. 9th, 1768. It is not known how long
Colonel Wilkin s remained in oflSce, or what English governor
succeeded him, but it is known that St. Ange again returned
to his loving charge, after having been ruler over St. Louis,
which had become a Spanish town in 1762, as already stated.

The groundwork of the English policy on taking possession
of the country was foreshadowed by a proclamation issued by
George III., Oct. 24th, 1765, and again by a proclamation in
1772.* These proclamations forbade private ownership to the
soil, and the inference is plain that he intended to divide the
whole country up into baronial estates. Had it been settled
by Canadian Frenchmen, such an attempt might have, been
successful, but the growth of the country stimulated the am-
bition of its inhabitants into higher and broader channels, and
a more general dispensation of nature's gifts in this wealth-
producing country than a baronial policy would admit of.

On the 2d of June, 1774, the British Parliament passed an
act entitled " The Quebec Bill." This act extended the limits
of Canada so as to include all the territory north of the Ohio
river. This was the first official act of Parliament that gave
offense to the colonists. It abridged the limits of the Virginia
colony, which claimed the territory across the Ohio by virtue
of her original charter, and besides this, it disappointed the
ambitions of private companies who were at that time contem-
plating emigration to the valley of the Ohio. Certain acts of

♦Colonial Records of Penn.

BOOHEBLAVE. 37

Lord Dunmore, the last colonial governor of Virginia, gave
oflFense to the border men, who in turn avowed their principles
and purposes in ominous language,* which clearly foretold the
Kevolution, even before any action had been taken at Boston
or Philadelphia. As before stated, the British soldiers were
withdrawn from the Illinois country but few months after their
arrival there, and there are no records that any more English
soldiers were ever sent to the place, or that any English gov-
ernor was ever sent to the country after Wilkins' term, and
the conclusion seems final that the people here were left to
execute their own laws, first under St. Ange, as already told,
and next under Eocheblave, who was a Frenchman, though
loyal to British interests, as he should be, the country having
passed into British hands. The latter — Eocheblave — was
in command of the Illinois country just previous to its con-
quest by Clark, the history of which will be told in the next
chapter.

*See Dillon's Indiana, Blanchard's Northwest, under head of " Dunmore's
War."

• 9

38 THE AMBBIOAN GOVBBNHENT OB6ANIZBD.

CHAPTER IV.

ILLINOIS UNDER AMERICAN RULE.

The Continental Congress of thirteen English colonies
assembled at Philadelphia September 5th, 1774. It was rep-
resented by each colony, and soon afterwards took upon itself
the functions of a government of its own creation as a substi-
tute for English authority.

On the 13th of July, 1775, three Indian departments were
instituted — a southern, northern and middle. To the latter
the Illinois country was assigned. Benjamin Franklin and
James Wilson, of Pennsylvania, and Patrick Henry, of Yir-
ginia, were appointed commissioners for the middle depart-
ment. Its remoteness prevented any practical results from
growing out of this organization. Nevertheless it is worthy
of record as being the first oflScial action taken by the new
government to extend its authority over this distant settlement.

The next year, 1776, on the 10th of April, Colonel George
Morgan, who had been a trader at Kaskaskia, was appointed
agent to succeed the former ones of this department. His
residence was at Fort Pitt, from whence he was required to
visit the western tribes for the purpose of cultivating their
friendship. But the English agents had already been among
them, and not much was accomplished by the Americans
through Indian alliances.

Meantime the American Revolution was soon in full tide
of progress, and none took more interest in it than the fron-
tier men of Yirginia, and none were more willing to make

*See Journal of Continental Congress.

OLABK'S conquest of ILLINOIS. 39

sacriiices to bring it to a suQcessful termination. Prominent
among these men was Colonel George Rogers Clark, a native
of Albemarie Co., Va. The settlements of Kentucky were
then begun, and Clark was among the settlers, but left for Vir-
ginia on the 1st of October, 1777, for the purpose of laying a
plan before Patrick Henry, the governor, for the conquest of the
Illinois country. After several interviews. Governor Henry
gave his consent to his plans, and he immediately set about
the execution of them.

The utmost secrecy was necessary, for had it been known in
advance the English could have sent a force from Detroit to
waylay him on his march to the place, and also to garrison
Fort Gage at Kaskaskia with a strong force. As a blind
to the real destination of the expedition. Governor Henry first
gave Clark instructions to proceed to the Kentucky settlements
for the purpose of defending them against Indian attack. These
were published, and gave rise to murmurs among the revolu-
tionary spirits of the border that soldiers should be sent on
such an errand, when they were needed in front to fight the
British.

The expedition embarked from Pittsburg, and, as Clark ex-
pressed it, " shot the falls" at Louisville on the 24:th of June,
kept on down the river to " a little above Fort Massac," and
from thence marched across the country to Kaskaskia. The
place contained about 1,000 inhabitants, and was defended by
a fort named Fort Gage, in honor of the British General Gage.

'Twas on the evening of the 4:th of July that Clark arrived
at the place. There were no British soldiers there, but a small
company of French did garrison at the fort. These, as well
as the private citizens, were completely taken by surprise. The
presence of Americans in the streets x)f Kaskaskia, and even
in the fort, was the first signal of invasion, and victory was
won before resistance was thought of. The governor and a
few leading citizens were seized and put in irons, and every
inhabitant was ordered to remain in his house on pain of being

40 OLASK'S OONQUB8T OF ILLIKOI8.

shot if found in the street. Meanwhile the conquerors made
night hideous by their tumult and outcries as they patrolled
the streets to prevent the escape of the terrified citizens.

The Americans had been represented to them as monsters
of cruelty, and their demeanor thus far seemed to verify the
truth of such an assertion. Clark had already been informed
of these slanders against him and his men, and, with a deep
and far-seeing mental analysis of the harmless villagers who
now lay prostrate at his feet, determined to turn the unjust
falsehoods to his own advantage. His plan was first to bring
them to the verge of despair, and then, by a sudden transition
of clemency, overwhelm them with transports of joy.

Pending the painful suspense, M. Gibault, the priest, with
a few of the aged citizens, came to the quarters of General
Clark and begged that the inhabitants might be permitted to
assemble in their church to take their last leave of each
other before being separated. Their request was granted them
on the ground that the Americans left every man free to settle
his religious matters with his God ; but no one must leave
the town. The injunction was obeyed, and after their nieeting
was over Gibault and a few others again visited Clark, and,
under the expectation that they were all to be driven from
their homes, requested that they might be allowed to take a
small amount of provisions with them, and a few articles of
immediate necessity, and above all, that mothers and children
should not be separated. Clark listened to these humble pe-
titions with apparent astonishment, and in reply said, " Do
you take us for savages?"

Hitherto with impenetrable immobility he had presented a
harsh exterior towards them,bnt now the picture was changed,
and never did the bright side of human nature through a
rough exterior show to better advantage.

They were not to be driven from their homes or plundered
of their property, nor were they to be denied the riteb of
their religion. He had come among them for a far difierent

OLABK's conquest of ILLINOIS. 41

purpose. His mission was to introduce the new government
in their midst and offer to take them imder its protection — a
government that France had just allied itself to, which was
news to them — it having been sent to Clark after he left Fort
Pitt.

The effect of this unexpected magnanimity was like a sud-
den recoil from despair to the fall fruition of the heart's desire,
and the volatile French gave vent to their feelings in trans-
ports of joy. The stock of the new government rose above
par. Cahokia and all the other adjacent towns promptly
yielded to Clark's authority, and young America became firmly
planted on the soil of Illinois.

This was but the initiatory step in the work before the bold
adventurer. Five hundred miles of wilderness intervened
between him and Fort Pitt, the nearest post from which
succor could be obtained in case of a reverse. The English
were in force at Detroit, and could easily send a garrison
to Vincennes, on the "Wabash, a point intervening between
him and the frontier from whence he had marched. That
ultimate failure in his plans could only be averted by the
most heroic policy, coupled with extraordinary activity, was
evident to the mind of Clark, and he set himself about the
execution of the yet unfinished work before him without loss
of time.

His masterly efforts to win the good will of the French had
been successful, and the next work to be done was to win the
favor of the Indians, whose power was then transcendent
throughout the whole interior.

Pending his efforts in this direction Gibault, the priest,
volunteered to go to Vincennes with others, among whom was
Captain Helm, to advocate the American cause at that post.
In this he was successful. Those who represented the British
interest there gave way to the all-prevailing sentiment in favor
of the Americans, and Captain Helm became commandant of
the place.

42 olabk's conquest of Illinois.

Such was the state of affairs in the autumn of 1778, but
on the X5th of December Henry Hamilton, the British gov-
ernor of Detroit, suddenly appeared before Vincennes with
a force of 30 British regulars, 50 French volunteers from
among the citizens of Detroit, and 400 Indians. Helm had
no force in command to oppose them, and on came the
invaders, with Colonel Hamilton at their head, and at his
post stood Captain Helm, match in hand, ready to fire a loaded
cannon at them. When they had arrived within hailing dis-
tance, the tenacious defender of the fort shouted "Halt!"
This brought a reply from Hamilton demanding a surrender.
Helm in turn demanded the honors of war, which terms
were granted, and Hamilton took possession of the place,
its garrison consisting of Captain Helm and one soldier,
named Henry.*

The situation of Clark was now perilous in the extreme, but
he took prompt measures to meet the emergency. On the
29th of January succeeding, which was in 1779, there arrived
at his quarters from Yincennes Francis Vigo, a Spanish mer-
chant. He had important news for General Clark — Hamilton
had weakened his force by sending his Indians to blockade the
Ohio river, in order to cut off the retreat of the Americans.
"If I don't take Hamilton, Hamilton will take me," ex-
claimed Clark. His resolution was immediately made, and he
determined to march against Yincennes. .A company of
French volunteers was raised, which, added to a company of
his own, constituted a force of 170 men. These were to
march overland to the place, while a vessel commanded by
John Rogers, with 46 men, was sent down the Mississippi and
up the Ohio and Wabash, to transport the necessary stores and
cooperate with the land forces. The vessel started on the 10 th
of February, and the land forces the next day, 216 men all
told, to wrest from the British empire a country large enough
for a kingdom.

♦Sutler's Kentucky.

OLABK's 0ONQUE8T OF ILLINOIS. 43

When General Clark arrived at the Wabash, its waters were
80 swollen by late rains that the country tor many miles
around was inundated, and after crossing the turbulent river
the invaders had to wade in water up to their arm-pits, in
places, before camping ground could be reached. This they
did under the inspiration of a war song, in which the whole
line joined, as they struggled through the flooded valleys like
amphibious beings. Having passed these watery wastes, the
men encamped for the night on a rise of ground, half famished
with hunger and chilled to their vitals with their cold water
wadings. Fortunately a small supply of food was soon ob-
tained from some Indian hunters, and the next day the whole
force marched against Fort Sackville, which defended the town.
The attack was made, and twenty-four hours' firing resulted in
wounding many of Hamilton's soldiers, and he surrendered at
discretion on the 24th of February.

In vain may the records of warfare be searched to find so
important a conquest achieved by so small a force. The whole
plan from the first looked like a desperate one, and had Ham-
ilton not felt an assurance that he could circumvent.it, he
would not have weakened his own force by sending a detach-
ment to the Ohio to cut off Clark on a retreat that he (Ham-
ilton) felt certain would be attempted by the '' rash adven-
turer," as he regarded him.

Clark's success was the result of an accumulation of circum-
stances, some of which fortuitously grew out of its apparent
impossibility in the estimation of his antagonist, as well as out
of the hardihood of his men, but, more than either of these,
out of his own versatility of talent to turn even obstacles in
his path to ultimate advantage. But this conquest, marvelous
as it appeared, was only one step towards the final destiny of
Illinois, as well as the whole territory north of the Ohio river.

At the negotiations in Paris in 1783, which arranged the
terms of peace after the American Revolution, the most im-
portant point to agree on was to establish a western boundary

44 DIPLOMACY AT PABIS.

for the new nation. The provisions of the Quebec bill of
1774 had made the Ohio river the southern line of Canada,
and the British tenaciously held to this claim. Meantime the
Count de Aranda, the Spanish Commissioner, claimed all the
territory west of the Alleghany mountains. At this juncture
the American Ministers, Jay, Adams, Franklin and Laurens
discovered that the French Commissioner, Count Vergennes,
was secretly using his influence in favor of the Spanish claim.
This served to complicate the issue still more, and helped to
weaken the resolution of the British Commissioner to insist
on the rights of England in an issue which might prolong a
ccmtroversy with her European rivals; for had the signing of
the treaty hung on the pleasure of Spain till her consent was
obtained to making the Mississippi the western boundary of
the United States, it would never have been signed, and it is
highly probable that England would not have conceded this
point if the Spanish claim had not presented obstacles in the
way of her retaining the territory in dispute, even if the
Americans should relinquish it. This consideration, in ad-
dition to the American rights by virtue of Clark's conquest,
settled the destiny of Illinois by placing her under the flag
of the United States at the treaty of Paris, signed September
3d, 1783, and ratified by Congress at Philadelphia, January
14th, 1784.

From the first the Americans had shown a firm purpose to
retain the Illinois country, and, in accordance with this reso-
lution, the Genera] Assembly of Virginia, in October, 1778,
made provision for the forms of a temporary govern-
ment there, and the foUovdng year, on the 15th of June,
John Todd, a Colonel under Clark, by authority of these pro-
visions,' issued a proclamation at Kaskaskia, organizing tlie
country into a county of Virginia, to be called Illinois County,
and a fort was built the same year on the east bank of the
Mississippi river, just below the mouth of the Ohio, to defend
the country from the Spaniards. At that time Spain owned

SPANISH RIVALRY. 45

half of South America, Central America, Mexico, the West
Indies, Florida, and all the territory west of the Mississippi
river to the Pacific ocean. She was the European power*
above all others that represented the intensified forms of
feudalism and tyranny, bold, defiant and aggressive in her
state councils, and intolerant in civil and religious rights. The
fires of despotism were consuming her vitals, and soon burnt
out the materials wherewith to sustain her dogged and un-
compromising determination to crush the manhood out of her
colonial subjects. The consequence was that her power went
rapidly into decline when the portions of America over which
her laws extended were brought into proximity and rivalry
with the progressive spirit of young America, as the sequel
proved. To record the history of her attempts to extend her
dominion over the Mississippi valley would fill a volume. All
of them were abortive, for the reason that her government was
behind the age of the progressive civilization that had been
growing into maturity under liberal English law in America.
This law, when extended over the French settlements, was
hailed with welcome, for the reason that it deprived them of
no natural right, and most of the inhabitants took the oath of
allegiance to the State of Virginia under Todd's administra-
tion. He was killed at the battle of Blue Licks, in Kentucky,
August 18th, 1782, and was succeeded by Timothy Montbrun,
a Frenchman.

From this period till the occupation of the country by St.
Clair, no official records are extant of its government, and the
inference is that during this hiatus no difficulties arose that
could not be settled by the priest. It was during this interim
that the first American settlement in Illinois was made. It
\(^as located in the present county of Monroe, and- signifi-
cantly named " New Design.' The names of these settlers
were James Moore, Shadrack Bond, James Garrison, Robert
Kidd, and Larken Kutherfoj'd. The two latter were soldiers
in General Clark's army. In the summer of 1781 all these,

46 FIRST AMESIOAN SETTLEMENT.

with their families, had crossed the Alleghany mountains and
embarked from Pittsburg on board of what was then called an
ark. When the mouth of the Ohio was reached, with many a
heavy strain, they urged their ark up the current of the Mis-
sissippi to the shore opposite this settlement, debarked, and set
the first permanent Anglo-American stakes into the soil of
Illinois.

These men were composed of a more inflexible material
than the French. There was no sympathy between them and
the Indians, and the consequence was that a hostile feeling
ultimately grew up between each which in time made it neces-
sary to build a block-house as a refuge in the event of an out-
break.

By virtue of her royal charter, as already stated, the claim
of Virginia to all the lands north of the Ohio river was ac-
knowledged by common consent, and was valid, perhaps in
default of its never having been disputed by a high legal
court. But the magnanimity of this venerable old State made
any such action unnecessary by ceding the territory in ques-
tion to the United States, the deed of cession bearing date
March 1st, 1Y84.

This broad creation of prairie and forest, seamed by a
thousand rivers and enriched by countless autumnal leaf-falls
and prairie growths, was then, comparatively speaking, an im-
maculate tablet, unscarred by the plow, and steps were promptly
taken by Congress to facilitate its settlement and guarantee to
each settler such lands as he selected and paid for. Accord-
ingly on the 20th of May, 1785, an act was passed for the
survey of such lands as had been purchased from the Indians.
And now began that system of public surveys which may
justly be called the best in the world It was begun under
charge of Thomas Huchins, the same who mapped out the
Ohio country by observation during a tour through it soon
after Bouquet's expedition to the Muskingum. These surveys

TERRITOBIAL GOVERNMENT OBOANIZED. 47

now form the basis for a description of every farm, and even
every village lot, in the entire northwest.

On the 5th of October, 1787, Arthur St. Clair, a venerable
Revolutionary officer, was appointed governor of the entire
country north of the Ohio river, which was designated as the
Northwest Territory. On the 9th of July the next year he
arrived at Marietta, a settlement recently made at the mouth
of the Muskingum river, and set the new machinery of gov-
ernment in motion. The first county was laid out with
dimensions large enough to include all the settlements on the
river, and named Washington county. About the first of
June, 1790, the governor, with the judges of the superior
court, descended the Ohio river to Cincinnati, and laid out
Hamilton county. A few weeks later he, with Winthrop
Sargeant, secretary of the territory, proceeded to Kaskaskia
and organized the settled portions of the Illinois country into
one county, which, in honor of the governor, was named St.
Clair county. All former official organizations here had been
by authority of the State of Virginia, and had been transient
in their character, but now the permanency of national author-
ity had stamped its seal on Illinois soil. A court was estab-
lished at Cahokia, and justices of the peace appointed for
each of the adjacent villages.

• In 1796 settlements had increased so as to make the organi-
zation of another county necessary, and Randolph county was
laid out, occupying all the territory south of an east and west
line. drawn through the New Design settlement from the Mis-
sissippi to the Wabash river, St. Clair county occupying the
territory north of this line, and Randolph that south of it.

By an act of Congress May 7th, 1800, the Northwest Ter-
ritory was divided, the present limits of the State of Indiana,
together with those of Michigan, Wisconsin and Illinois being
set off and named Indiana Territory. On the 13th of the
same month William Henry Harrison was appointed governor,
and John Gibson, the same to whom Logan made his cele-

48 ILLINOIS A PAST OF INDLAl^A TEBBITOBY.

brated speech, was appointed secretary. The seat of govern-
ment was fixed at Vincennes, at which place Harrison arrived
January 10th, 1801, and immediately organized the new gov-
ernment.

On the 3d of January, 1805, an election was held by order
of Governor Harrison, to elect representatives for the assem-
bly at Vincennes. The legislature met July 29th, 1805.
Shadrack Bond and William Biggs, were chosen to represent
St. Clair county, and George Fisher, Kandolph county.

By an act of Congress approved January 11th, 1805, Indi-
ana Territory was divided; all that portion of it lying north of
a line due east from the southern extremity of Lake Michigan
being set oft* and named Michigan Territory. This only took
from the Indiana Territory the portion of Michigan between
Lakes Huron and Michigan, that portion of the present State
of Michigan bordering on Lake Superior having been annexed
to the state since that period, to offset for the loss of territory-
claimed by Ohio on her southern border. On February 3d,
1809, Indiana Territory was again divided by setting off^ the
territory of Illinois, embracing its present limits, together
with the present limits of Wisconsin and the peninsular por-
tion of Michigan. Ninian Edwards was appointed governor,
his commission bearing date April 24th, 1809. Nathaniel
Pope was appointed secretary. The seat of government was
fixed at Kaskaskia, at which place Governor Edwards assumed
his official duties on the 11th of the following June.

The machinery of the first grade of government was now
put in practice. By it the governor and judges constituted the
legislature.

By an act of Congress May 21st, 1812, the territory of
Illinois was promoted to the second grade of government. Up
to this time every county and town officer had been appointed
by the governor; now they were to be elected by the people,
but the right of suffrage was extended to those only who had
paid a territorial tax.

EABTHQUAKB OF 1811. 49

Three new counties, Madison, G-allatin and Johnson, were
organized, making five in all, and an election was ordered in
each to elect five members of the legislative council, seven
representatives, and one delegate to Congress. Shadrack
Bond was elected to the latter office, being the first one elected
by the people for that position.

The great earthquake of 1811, the centre of which was at
New Madrid, on the Mississippi below the mouth of the Ohio
river, was severely felt in Southern Illinois. It began on the
night of the 15th of December, and a succession of shocks
were felt for several days succeeding. The ground opened at
many places in the vicinity of New Madrid and emitted
sulphurous steam, closing again with a loud noise, and throw-
ing jets of mud and water high into the air. Near this place
much ground was sunk, and became permanently covered with
water. The shocks were felt along the entire valley of the
Ohio river, and up the Mississippi river they were reported at
St. Louis, which was as far as settlements then extended.

50 BATTLB OF TIPFEGAITOS.

CHAPTER V.

ILLINOIS m THE WAR OF 1812.

To write the history of all the scenes of violence that
marked the contest between the Indians and the frontiersmen
during the pioneer age of the northwest would fill many vol-
umes, but, happily for Illinois, she has been comparatively
exempt from Indian wars as they have raged in Ohio and In-
diana, no great Indian battle having ever been fought within her
limits, for the reason that the force and power of the Indians
was greatly weakened before settlements had progressed to any
great extent in this territory.

The battle of Tippecanoe, fought between the Shawanese
and other tribes against the forces of General Harrison, No-
vember 7th, 1811, resulted disastrously to the Indians, and
doubtless prevented a confederation of the tribes of Illinois
from combining against the settlers of this state by any con-
certed movement. Owing to this cause Indian hostilities here
were confined to small skirmishes, personal encounters, or to
Indian scouts on pilfering expeditions; In almost all these
the Indians got the worst of it, as the exploits of Illinois
pioneers have abundantly shown.

Another reason why the Indians here were less powerful for
mischief and less aggressive than those farther east was owing
to their greater distance from Canada, at which place their
" British Fathers," as they called them, had subsidized all the
tribes north of the Ohio into their friendship by an annual
distribution of presents at Maiden.

WAR PECLABED. 51

The effect on the minds of the Indians of this prodigal gen-
erosity was prodigious, for they in their simplicity believed
that disinterested benevolence was the incentive on the part
of the givers. In this they were mistaken, for there was a
policy in it which in due time came to the surface.

Even after the fires of the Revolution had died away the
English left the region of the lakes with reluctance, retaining
Detroit, Sandusky and other posts till 1796, contrary to treaty
stipulations, giving as a reason that the posts were held to
secure the collection of private debts due from citizens of the
United States to British subjects. Meantime the persistence
of the British of Canada to furnish the Indians with arms
and to encourage them to resist the Americans gave great
offense to the latter. This state of things lasted from 1789
to 1812, and embittered the minds of the border men against
the British to such an extent that, had their counsels ruled in
the nation, war would have been declared against England in
1793, when she built a fort at the Maumee rapids, more than
twenty miles inside of the Canada line.

Pending these accumulating grievances the French Eevolu-
tion convulsed Europe, and out of its dissolution Napoleon
rose into power. Between him and England there was no
peace. As years rolled on the war between France and
England grew into immense proportions, and the latter did not
hesitate to supply her navy with seamen from the decks of
American vessels. This latter insult to the nation, added to
many others that preceded it, was the cause of the declaration
of the war of 1812. It was made the 18th of June. The
news rang through the western forests, carried by fleet-footed
messengers, and the Indians hovered around the standard of
their "British Father" in Canada, thinking the time had
come when the Americans should be driven from their soil by
the aid of English bayonets.

General Hull was promptly sent to Detroit with a force to
garrison the place and hold it against the British in Canada.

52 FORT DEAKBUKN EVACUATED.

He had only been there a short time when he found a power-
ful and wide-spread Indian confederacy arrayed against him,
which was the result of the previous years of British patron-
age and generosity. Their savage retainers held possession
of the forest path through which General Hull had marched
to Detroit, and closed the door behind him. Meantime the
British, by means of their fleet on Lake Erie, could concen-
trate their forces upon him with facility, and he soon found
himself menaced in front by a powerful foe, while his rear
bristled with Indian tomahawks and scalping-knives.

Fort Dearborn at Chicago, which had been built in 1803-4,
was included in the military district under his charge, and
during his waning fortunes he determined to send a messenger
to the place to give Captain Heald, its commander, timely
warning to save the garrison by retreating to Fort Wayne if
the place could not hold out until relief could come.

General Hull had in his camp at that time a friendly Pot-
towatomie chief, named Winnemac, and to him was the mis-
sion confided. He was faithful to his trust, and on the 9th
of August arrived at Fort Dearborn and handed his dispatch
to Captain Heald.

War had been declared by the United States against Eng-
land, Michilimacinac had been taken, and Detroit was hard
pressed by the British and their red allies. This was the bur-
den of news which the messenger brought to this far-off post
in their isolated hermitage. Farther, Captain Heald was or-
dered to evacuate Fort Dearborn provided he had not means
to defend it. Under an impression that he had not he ordered
an evacuation, though against the advice of his subordinate
officers.

The 15 th of August was set for the day, and the garrison,
mustering 66 men, started on their route for Fort Wayne. On
arriving at the locality where Eighteenth street now terminates
at the lake, they were attacked by five times their number of
Pottowatomies. The soldiers in vain charged upon their nu-

MASSj^GBE at CHICAGO. 68

merous foes, with Captain Welle at their head, who had arrived
the day before from Fort Wayne to help defend them. Wells
was killed, and with him fell more than half of the heroic
band of soldiers. The remainder, with Mrs. Helm,* the Kin-
zie family,*!- ^^^ some of the wives of the oflScers, became
prisoners, and were subsequently ransomed by Mr. Forsythe,
the Indian agent at Peoria, and others.

This massacre was in the interest of the British in their
contest with the Americans, though not done under their
orders, but under savage responsibility on British account.
This opening of the war was all in favor of the British. The
campaign had been short and decisive, but a new one was at
hand, destined to offset fourfold for its disgrace.

On the 24th of September General Harrison received a dis-
patch from the president that he had been appointed to the
command of the northwest. The first thing for him to do
was to take effective measures for the protection of the most
gemote frontier, after which the British were to be driven from
Detroit.

General Shelby, of Kentucky, entered heartily into the
work, and had raised an army of volunteers and placed them
under command of General Hopkins, who was at Vin-
cennes late in September awaiting orders, and while General
Harrison was approaching Detroit, his forces were destined for
the Illinois service, to destroy the KickaDoo villages along the
Illinois river.

On the 11th of October two companies of United States
Hangers, under command of Colonel Kussell, were ordered to
march immediately to Edwardsville, Illinois, where they were

*Thi8 noble woman's life was spared by the timely interposition of Black
Partridge. After her ransom she wrote a graphic account of the battle,
. which was published in Wabun, and transferred from thence to various
other histories.

fJohn Kinzie was sent in irons to Maiden, from which place while pris-
oner he beheld the smoke of Perry's victory on the lake and the retreat of
the Little Belt and her capture. Blanchard's Northwest.

54 EXPEDITION AGAINST THE INDIANS.

to be placed under command of Governor Edwards to be added
to his forces. Thus united, the army was to march against
the Indian towns on the Illinois river, in which vicinity it was
to form a junction with the army of General Hopkins. The
latter started from Vincennes early in October, crossed the
Wabash at Fort Harrison, and began its marcli into the broad
prairies of the interior toward the objective point. They
were composed mostly of raw recruits who had never seen
service, and the country they had entered seemed strange and
bewildering in its vastness. The prairie fires lit up the *sky
each night with lurid glares and wrought upon their fears, and
at the end of the fourth day's march the whole army refused
to obey orders. Accordingly the next morning the volunteers
turned backward and retraced their steps by the way they had
advanced, despite the orders of their General.

While these unsoldier-like men were retreating before they
had come in sight of the enemy. Governor Edwards' army
were advancing according to the original plan, and arriving at
an Indian town on the east bank of Peoria Lake, found it de-
serted except by a single Indian and a squaw. The luckless
brave was shot at the first sight of him, and the squaw, after
many shots having been fired at her under the impression that
she was a brave, was taken captive. She was not wounded,
but gave vent to her feelings in a flood of tears, and was soon
set at liberty. The country had never before been penetrated
by Americans, and the number of Indians it contained was
not known. No tidings of General Hopkins were received,
and it was deemed expedient to retreat, lest superior numbers
might be brought against them. The governor therefore re-
turned to Camp Russell and discharged the volunteers.

Peoria at this time contained a mixed population of French
and Indians, and the former were accused by the Americans of
befriending the Indians and supplying them with ammunition.
Under this apprehension a gunboat expedition under Captain
Craig was to act in conjunction with the land forces of Governor

PEOBIA BURNED. 56

Edwards, and General Hopkins, to supply the two armies
with provisions and the necessary stores for the campaign.
This failed to make a connection with the army of the gov-
ernor, but advanced to Peoria, burnt the town, and taking most
of the French inhabitants prisoners, transported them down the
Illinois river to the banks of the Mississippi, and turned them
loose on its desolate banks without food. After much suffer-
ing the outcasts found their way back to their homes, which,
though laid in ashes, were rebuilt, and Peoria continued to be
a French trading post till American settlers came to the place.
The writer has no data at hand to show the grounds of suspi-
cion of French alliance with the Indians, or the kind of aid
furnished them by which the Americans felt aggrieved, and
by which they justified their attack upon the town and abduc-
tion of its French citizens. Whatever these grounds were, it
is certain that no subsequent attack was made on the place,
by which an inference may be made that the first one was un-
necessary.

The next year, 1813, another expedition was set on foot
from Camp Eussell. It crossed the Illinois two miles above its
mouth, thence went to the Mississippi, and marched up its
east bank to the lower rapids, from whence it went across the
country to the Illinois river, and arriving at Peoria, built a
fort, which, in honor of General George Rogers Clark, was
called Fort Clark. The expedition then advanced up the river
to Gomas village, destroyed it, and returned to Camp Rus-
sell. This closed the campaign of 1813 in Illinois, and it
must be confessed that it was by a very tenacious and far-
fetched resolution to defend the state that the war had been
waged against the Indians, and especially against the French
of Peoria.

The campaign of 1814 opened with increased activity along
the frontiers of Illinois, for now an actual enemy was at their
gates. Notwithstanding the British had been driven from
Detroit and signally defeated both on sea and land by the

56 PRAIRIE DU CHIEN TAKEN.

forces of General Harrison and Commodore Perry, Michili-
macinac and Prairie du Chien were still in their possession,
and against the latter an expedition was planned. It started
from St. Louis about the 1st of May in four barges, on board
of which were 200 men under charge of Governor Clark, of
Missouri. They arrived at the place and took possession with-
out resistance, almost the entire British force, under the
celebrated Colonel Dickson, having left for Canada to recruit
the British army there, who were being hard pressed by the
Americans.

The foUovdng July a large force of British and Indians re-
turned and laid siege to the place. It was taken after a stout
resistance, and the garrison were sent to St. Louis as paroled
prisoners.

The following August an expedition was fitted out at Cape
au Gris, destined for the upper Mississippi, under command of
General Z. Taylor, the same who afterwards became President
of the United States.

It started on the 24th of August, in armed barges, with
334 men. A little above Rock Island they were attacked by
a superior force of British and Indians under the command of
the celebrated Black Hawk,* and defeated after a desperate
battle.

This terminated the war in Illinois and Wisconsin, as the
negotiations of Ghent soon followed, articles of peace being
signed December 24th, 1814, and the British forces withdrew
from the beautiful lake country to its northern shore, and the
Indians once more settled into peace.

^^This must have been soon after Black Hawk's return from the army of
General Proctor. See Black Hawk's narration in Smith's Doc. Hist, of Wis.

ILLINOIS A STATE. 67

CHAPTER VL

ADMINISTRATIONS OF THE GOVERNORS OF ILLINOIS.

In January, 1818, the territorial legislature sent a petition
to Congress for admission into the Union as an independent
state. Nathaniel Pope was then delegate, and through his
instrumentality the petition was not only granted, but the bill
was so amended as to extend the northern limits of the state
from its proposed boundary to latitude 42° 30'. Its first
limit was a line drawn due west from the southern extremity
of Lake Michigan to the Mississippi river. The amended bill
became a law April 18th, but the act for admission of the
state into the Union was not passed till December 30th, 1818.*

In July, 1818, a convention was called at Kaskaskia to draft
a constitution, of which Jesse B. Thomas was president and
William C. Greenup secretary. The following are the names
of the counties then in existence, all of which were repre-
sented in the c(Tnvention : Randolph, Madison, Gallatin, John-
son, Pope, Jackson, Crawford, Bond, Union, Washington and
Franklin.

This constitution was not submitted to a vote of the people
for ratification. By its provisions judges, prosecuting attor-
neys, county and circuit judges, recorders and justices of the
peace, were all appointed by the governor or legislature, in-
stead of being elected by the people. The first election under
it for governor was held in September, 1818, which resulted
in the election of Shadrack Bond, and Pierre Menard was

"Ford's History of IHinois gives in full the reasons for extending the
northern boundary.

58 VANDALIA THE CAPITAL.

elected lieutenant governor. They were inaugurated Octo-
ber Gth.

Tn 1820 the seat of government was removed to Vandalia.
Among its earliest labors was the creation of the Illinois state
bank, with a capital of half a million dollars, based on the
credit of the state.

In August, 1822, Edward Coles was elected governor hy a
small plurality over his principal opponent, Joseph Phillips,
there being two other candidates in the field. Adolphus F.
Hubbard was elected lieutenant governor. The inauguration
took place December 5th. In this election the final contest
was involved between those who wished to make Illinois a
slave state and those who wished to make it a free state, and
on this issue the people were not very unequally divided.

Slavery had existed here ever since 1720, at which time
Philip Francis Renault, as agent for the company of St. Phil-
lips, introduced it. The company of which he was agent was
an oflTshoot of that established by the celebi'ated John Law in
1717. By the distempered imaginations of those interested
in the Law company, the whole country was looked upon as a
mining field for precious metals, and to work the mines 500
slaves were purchased in St. Domingo and transported to the
Illinois country. After this theory had been dispelled, a part
of them were employed in working the lead mines of Missouri
and Dubuque, while a portion of them were purchased by the
French settlers, and the offspring of the latter became the
slave population of Illinois down to the time of Governor
Coles' election. By the ordinance of 1787 slavery had been
prohibited in the entire territory of the northwest, of which
Illinois was a part, and it existed here only by means of
various legal subterfuges by which the provisions of the
ordinance had been averted.

Governor Coles was an able and uncompromising advocate
of Freedom, and it was evident to those representing the other
side that unless a new constitution which fully recognized

ANTI-SLAVERY BTBUGGLE. 59

slavery as the future policy of the state could be obtained, that
this institution must ultimately die out. Accordingly meas-
ures were taken by the slavery party to obtain it. To this end
it was necessary by law to get a two-thirds vote of the gen-
eral assembly in favor of calling an election of the people to
vote on the question of changing the constitution. This was
obtained by dint of aggressive and defiant means best known
to those who have been drilled in a school of partisan politics,
and now the sfevery party were confident of success. The
election was proclaimed, but eighteen months intervened be-
fore it was to be held, and it is probable that no state election
was ever held since the United States became a nation in
which so much determination of purpose was thrown into the
arena. The cause of Freedom triumphed, 6,640 votes being
polled against a convention to change the constitution against
4,972 in favor of it.

This was the Waterloo of the slavery advocates in Illinois,
and to Governor Coles more than to any other man is due the
credit of the victory.*

In the spring of 1825, by invitation of Governor Coles,
General La Fayette, who was then in America, visited Illinois.
The governor had previously made the acquaintance of La
Fayette in Paris, and the meeting of these distinguished
statesmen in this distant frontier, as Illinois then was, made
the fires of freedom burn anew, and was a season of rejoicing
to the French as well as the Americans.

In the autumn election of 1826 Ninian Edwards was elected
governor and Wm. Kinney lieutenant governor of Illinois, and
were inaugurated December 6th. No exciting questions came
up under his administration, and the governor turned his
attention to improving the finances of the state. In this he
was successful, the annual expenses of the state being $20,000,
and the revenue $35,000 — small sums compared to its present
outgoes and incomes.

♦See E. B. Washbume's Life of Governor Coles.

60 THB SAUK WAB.

In Angnst, 1830, John Keynolds was elected governor and
Zadoc Casey lieutenant governor, and were inaugurated De-
cember 9th. The great event of his administration was the
Sauk war. The Sauks and Foxes then occupied the territory
intervening between the Kock and Mississippi rivers. By a
treaty held, in St. Louis November 3d, 1804, this tribe had
Ceded nearly all the lands they held in Illinois and Wisconsin
to the United States, General Harrison representing the United
States, and five chiefs representing the Sauk and Fox and Winne-
bago nations in the treaty By its provisions the Indians were
to retain their lands till they were wanted for settlements. Dur-
ing the war of 1812 with England, through the influence of
Colonel Dickson, a British oflScer at Prairie du Chien, a part of
this tribe had allied themselves to the British, and these were
called " The British Band." Black Hawk was their acknowl-
edged leader, while Keokuk, the principal chief of the tribe,
was opposed to the policy of resistance to the United States.
Black Hawk's village was on the tongue of land at the mouth
of the Rock river, between it and the Mississippi.

After the peace at the close of the war of 1812, amicable rela-
tions existed with the Indians till July 15th, 1830, at which time
Keokuk made a final cession at Prairie du Chien to the United
States of all the land his tribe held east of the Misssisippi river.

This was done without the knowledge of Black Hawk, and
wnen this tenacious old veteran learned the news his indigna-
tion was aroused, for he had always been opposed to yielding
territory to the whites. By its stipulations Black Hawk and
his band were to leave their village the next year and occupy
land west of the Mississippi. Keokuk used his influence to
persuade the whole tribe to do it, while Black Hawk took the
other side. Keokuk with his band crossed the river, but
Black Hawk, instead of quietly submitting, scoured the country
from Canada to the Mississippi to secure aid to his cause. He
declared the treaty of 1804 to have been obtained through
fraud, and determined to hold his position.

THE SAUK WAB. 61

Dnring the winter of 1830-1, as usual, his whole tribe left
their village on a hunting excursion, to procure furs where-
with to pay their debts to the traders and buy new supplies of
goods. On their return in the following April they found
their village in possession of the palefaces. The fur trader at
Kock Island, a former friend of Black Hawk, had purchased
the very ground on which the village stood, and he and his
associates were making preparations to cultivate the adjacent
corn-field of 700 acres. The indignation of the Indians was
now aroused, but, owing to the temperate counsels of Black
Hawk, a compromise was made by which the field was divided
between the new claimants and the Indians, each to cultivate
their respective half.

This truce did not prevent disputes, and even trespassing on
each other's rights, and on the 18th of May eight of the white
settlers united in a memorial to Governor Reynolds setting
forth their grievances. On the 27th he made a call for 700
volunteers to protect the settlers. General Gaines then held
command of this military district, and reached Fort Arm-
strong, on Hock Island, on the 7th of June. To the gov-
ernor's call 1,600 volunteers had responded, and were promptly
on the spot ready to execute the orders of General Gaines.
Wlien they came to Black Hawk's village he yielded to the
situation and crossed over to the west side v^th his tribe on
the night of the 24th. General Gaines took possession of his
village on the 26th. Black Hawk meantime, with his starving
followers, were encamped on the opposite side of the river,
with a white flag fluttering over their heads. On the 30th a
treaty was held with him, and Black Hawk gave up his inten-
tions of holding his lands. Rations were dealt out to the
submissive Indians, and the volunteers were dismissed
. Early in April the following year, 1832, Black Hawk in an
evil hour recrossed the Mississippi with his band and marched
up the Hock river, under pretense, perhaps sincere, of paying
a visit to his Winnebago friends in Wisconsin, to plant corn

62 THE SAUK WAR.

in their country. General Atkinson then held command of
Fort Armstrong, and sent messengers after him to warn him
back. Black Hawk paid no heed to the warning, but con-
tinued on his way till Dixon's ferry was reached, where he
encamped.

Pending their stay at the place Mrs. Dixon invited Black
Hawk and his friends to dine with her, she herself playing
hostess at the table and entering freely into conversation with
her tawny guests, and Black Hawk, as he acknowledged, felt
complimented by her respectful attentions to himself and
friends, especially because she sat at the table and enjoyed the
dinner with them.*

The news of Black Hawk's return to Illinois soon reached
the ears of Governor Reynolds, who forthwith raised a force
of 1,800 volunteers, to be put under the command of General
Whitesides, to follow him. The army reached Dixon the 12th
of May. Meantime Black Hawk had left the place and en-
camped on the banks of Sycamore creek, a tributary of the
Eock river thirty miles above.

Two days after the arrival of the volunteers at Dixon, an
ambitious oflScer named Stillman begged the privilege of the
general in command of making a reconnoisance on Black
Hawk's camp. With reluctance it was granted, and Major
Stillman started with 275 men for the adventure. Black Hawk
was entertaining his Winnebago friends at a dog feast when the
volunteers approached his camp, and he sent a party of six
men to meet them under protection of a white flag. By some
misdirection this party was fired on by the undisciplined vol-
unteers and two of them killed while in retreat.-j- Pending this
melee the forces of Stillman were scattered beyond the control
of their commander while giving chase to the flying truce-
bearers, and Black Hawk, justly indignant at the treatment

*For this incident the writer is indebted to a daughter of Mr. and Mrs.
Dixon, who now survives her worthy parents at the place.

f Reynolds* Illinois.

THE 8ALK WAR. 63

they had received, raised the war-whoop and repelled the
attack with his accustomed spirit. The vohinteers were in no
condition to even act on the defensive, and fled in confusion
before him, leaving 11 of their number dead. This was the
first blood drawn in the Sauk war. The fugitives reached
Dixon the next day, stinging under the most disgraceful defeat
ever received by white men at the hands of Indians. This
insignificant aflair gave Black Hawk a crumb of comfort, but
it stimulated the government to prompt action to prevent the
Winnebagos and Pottawattomies from taking up the hatchet.

At that time the northern frontier settlements of Illinois
barely reached Bureau creek, Plainville and Naperville. The
lead mines had drawn to the vicinity of Galena settlements
twelve or fifteen miles in extent, and Chicago was then a vil-
lage of two or three hundred inhabitants, sheltered by the
protection of Fort Dearborn,

The alarm was soon carried to these frontiers, chiefly through
the eflPorts of that noble old Pottowattomie chief, Shabena,
and by his timely warning the settlers on the Bureau fled to
the fort at Ottawa, while those around Plainfield and Naper-
ville took refuge at Fort Dearborn, but unhappily at Indian
creek, under a treacherous sense of security, a few families
paid no heed to the warning, and in a short time 70 painted
savages came upon them and butchered 15 defenseless victims.
Two boys escaped by flight, and two girls, Sylvia and Rachel
Hall, were taken captive to the camp of Black Hawk. They
were treated/ kindly, and soon ransomed through the influence
of the Winnebagoes.

The news of an Indian war on the frontier spread rapidly
through every hamlet in the eastern states, and measures were
promptly taken by the administration to meet the emergency.
Nine companies were sent to the scene under command of
General Scott. He arrived at Fort Dearborn at 2 o'clock on
the morning of the 8 th of July. The cholera had broken out
among his men on the way, and the news of his arrival and of

64 THE SAUK WAB.

the fearful contagion he had brought soon spread through the
village, and most of its inhabitants fled from the place before
daylight.*

While General Scott is detained at Fort Dearborn by this
fatal duress, let us follow the fortunes of Black Hawk.

The next day after the defeat of Stillman General White-
side led his entire force to the scene. There were the tent
marks of Black Hawk's army, and the lifeless bodies of 11
victims divested of their scalps, which were doubtless dangling
from the belts of as many Sauk warriors. But the wily Black
Hawk had fled northward, whither was not known.

The 2,400 men who had volunteered in the service had now
seen enough Indian flghting to gratify their ^curiosity, and,
their term of service having nearly expired, they were dis-
charged and 2,000 more men recruited to fill their places.

During the interim Black Hawk was busy with his scouting
parties, chiefly aimed against the settlements around Galena.
Many small skirmishes were fought in this direction, of which
the attack on Apple River fort on June 6th, where Elizabeth
now stands, was the most notable. The place was besieged for
a whole day, but the obstinate defenders showed no signs of
yielding, and Black Hawk, who himself commanded the attack,
retreated. On his way back to his headquarters on the 26th,
at Kellogg's grove, he came in collision with a detachment of
troops under Colonel Dement, numbering 150 men. The
veteran chief tried to draw Dement into an ambuscade, which
he barely escaped, and brought his men safely near the build-
ings of Mr. Kellogg at the grove, taking refuge in them, from
whence Black Hawk retired after an ineffectual attempt to dis-
lodge them. A small number of men were killed on each side.

After the failure of the first campaign. General Whitesides
refused any command but enlisted in the ranks, and the new
forces raised were divided into three divisions, to be com-

*The stampede of the Chicago villagers is vouched for to the writer by
Benjamia Hall, who married a sister of Judge Caton.

THK SAUK WAB. 65

manded by General Alexander Posey, General Milton K.
Alexander, and General James D. Henry, the whole under
general command of General Brady. But the latter was soon
disabled by sickness, and the chief command devolved upon
General Atkinson.

Seeing this formidable force arrayed against him, Black
Hawk determined to retreat to the north and save himself by
crossing the Mississippi river, but he was overtaken on the
banks of the Wisconsin, at Blue Mounds, by General Henry's
division, and a battle ensued July 21st, in which he lost 50
men while crossing the river.

Black Hawk continued his retreat after the battle till he
was again overtaken, August 2d, near the mouth of Bad Ax
river, in Wisconsin. A battle followed, in which nearly the
entire remnant of Black Hawk's army were killed or drowned
in attempting to cross the river. Black Hawk fled to Prairie
La Cross, a Winnebago village, where he surrendered himself
to Chaetar and One-eyed Decora, two Winnebago chiefs, who
delivered him up to General Street, the Indian agent at Prai-
rie du Chien, on the 27th of August.

As soon as the cholera had partially subsided among the
troops of General Scott, he moved his quarters from Fort
Dearborn to the banks of the Desplaines river, where, after
his soldiers had sufficiently recruited, he sent the main body,
under command of Colonel Cummings, to the present site of
Beloit, then a deserted Winnebago village.*

Here instructions came from the general in chief command

for the army to march down Rock river to Fort Armstrong,

on Kock Island, to which place General Scott with his staff

had arrived by a hasty march across the country by way of

Naperville.f

*R. N. Murray, who now lives in Naperville, was employed as teamster
by Cummings on the march, and to him is the writer indebted for the loca-
tion of the route taken.

fFor the route of General Scott the writer is indebted to Louis Elsworth»
of Naperville, who conferred with the general while at the place on his way.

66 BLACK HAWK A FBISONBB.

On the 10th of September the Indian prisoners were sent
to Jefferson Barracks, just below St. Louis, from which place
Black Hawk was sent to Washington, arriving there April 3d,
1833. On the 26th he was sent to Fortress Monroe, where he
remained till the 4th of June, when he was returned to his
people without further incarceration, for nothing worse than
honorable warfare could be charged against him. On the way
he was exhibited as a sort of lion in all the large cities through
which he passed, and the winning smiles of the ladies show-
ered on him were rewarded with compliments in broken
English, amusing, earnest, and sometimes ludicrous. But the
old veteran was not always flattering in his words. He
prophesied that the white man would see the day that their
courts of justice and their prisons would be insufficient to
protect the community against the criminals that civilization
encouraged and developed.*

On his return he was restored to his tribe as a chief sub-
ordinate to Keokuk. He died October 3d, 1835, at his home
on the Des Moines river, Iowa, near the present village of
lowaville, in Wappelo county. He was buried in a sitting
posture, and a large mound raised over his grave, which still
marks the resting place of him who may with propriety be
called the last native defender of the soil of Illinois. These
were the stirring events of Governor Reynolds' administra-
tion, the like of which cannot be repeated for want of ma-
terials.

Zadoc Casey, the lieutenant governor, was elected to con-
gress in 1832, and consequently resigned his position, where-
upon L. D. Ewing was chosen to fill his place. In 1834 Gov-
ernor Reynolds was elected to congress, which elevated Mr.
Ewing to the governor's chair to fill the expiring term, which
was only fifteen days.

Joseph Duncan was elected governor in August, 1834, and
inaugurated the succeeding November the 17th. Alexander

♦Drake.

NEW STATE BANK. 67

M. JenkinB was at the same time elected lieutenant governor.
Under this administration a new state bank was chartered,
with a capital of $1,500,000. By an act of the legislature
March 4th, 1837, the capital stock of this bank was increased
$2,000,000, which the state itself assumed, and also assumed
stock of the Shawneetown branch of this bank to the amount
of $1,000,000 more. The object of this financial scheme was
to enable the state to build internal improvements for trans-
portation by slack water navigation of the Wabash and Kock
rivers, and also by means of railroads, the objects of which
were to divert trade from St. Louis to Alton. Tlie building
of the Illinois and Michigan canal was also a cherished state
policy. That these efforts were premature and in some direc-
tions impracticable the suspension of specie payments by the
banks in May, 1837, proved. The following July, at a special
session of the legislature, the state came to the rescue of the
banks and legalized their suspension.

Thomas Oarlin was elected governor in August, 1838, and
inaugurated December 3d. Stinson H. Anderson was elected
lieutenant governor. The state was then casting about in
every direction for relief from the financial embarrassments
which had lately presented such a barrier in her path. In this
emergency, instead of retrenching taxation by abandoning a
portion of the public works it had undertaken in order to
assure the completion of at least a portion of them, by which
to secure an income to the state, the legislature made additional
appropriations, and extended its plans for public improve-
ments into new channels not before contemplated. The gov-
ernor was authorized to negotiate a loan of $4,000,000 for the
single object of prosecuting work on the Illinois and Michi-
gan canal, which was the only successful scheme that had yet
been undertaken. Up to the following January, 1839, there
had been but $1,400,000 expended on the canal. The onerous
burden of state indebtedness, together with the advocacy of
repudiation by a strong party had the effect to almost, if not

68 FAiLma of state ba^^k.

quite, destroy public confidence in the credit of the state. Of
all the public works she had undertaken, the portion of the
Northern Cross railroad from Meredosia to Springfield only
was finished, it being put in operation November 8th, 1838 —
the first in the state operated by steam power, but it was a
pitiful showing for the immense expenditures that had been
thus far dispensed with such prodigality. Its revenues could
only come from local patronage, barely sufficient to pay its
running expenses. After July, 1841, no further efforts were
made to pay interest on the public debt,* and early the next
year the state banks broke down completely, f The public
debt then was $14,000,000 — a large sum for the young state
in its poverty of both means and credit, and its bonds declined
to 14 cents on the dollar, without buyers at even that price.

While these financial questions were vexing the brains of
Illinois financiers, there were other issues growing into prom-
inence on the soil of Illinois destined to revolutionize the
whole political fabric of the union. In the presidential can-
vass of 1840 " log cabins and hard cider " were not the only
things thought of. James G. Bimey, a citizen of Fulton
county, had the moral courage to allow himself to be the
presidential candidate for the anti-slavery party. This was the
first official action in the United States taken in this direction,
and southern Illinois may in this justly claim the honor of
being the cradle of that party crowned with success under
another of her sons at a later date — Abraham Lincoln.

Thomas Ford was elected governor in August, and inaug-
urated December 8th, 1842. John Moore was elected
lieutenant-governor. Happily for the welfare of the state
one of the public works already begun had all the ele-
ments of practical utility that the most exacting capitalist
could ask. This was the Illinois and Michigan canal. The
abandonment of all the others was a relief to the state, while
its best hopes centered in the completion of this. To do this

^Davidson and Stuve. jldenL,

MOBMON TROUBLES. 69

required $3,000,000, according to the original plan, which was
to make it 40 feet wide at the bottom, 60 feet wide at the sur-
face, and of a depth sufficient for six feet of water to flow from
Lake Michigan directly into it through the summit between
Lockport and Chicago. By reducing these dimensions to a
shallow cut the work could be done for $1,600,000, and the
canal could be supplied with water by a steam pump.* It
now remained to negotiate the necessary loan to finish the
canal as per the reduced dimensions. To accomplish this re-
sult the following gentlemen met in couijcil in the fall of
1842: Arthur Bronson, of New York, and Wm. B. Ogden,
Justin Butterfield and Isaac N. Arnold, of Chicago. At this
meeting Mr. Bronson proposed to offer to the bondholders the
canal and its revenues when finished, including its landed
equities, as security for the advances required to finish it. The
plan was timely, simple and just, and it only required the
sanction of the state to put it into practice. Mr. Butterfield
drew up the necessary bill for presentation to the legislsture,
and Governor Ford used his influence in its favor. Mr.
Arnold was then chairman of the committee on finance, and
rendered essential service in the passage of the bill, which
only escaped defeat by a small majority. Work was resumed
on the canal as soon as the loan was obtained by the terms
which the new bill made it legal to offer to the bondholders,
which was not till 1845. The canal was finished April 19th,
1848.

Financial embarrassment was not the only thing against
which Governor Ford had to contend. The Mormons had
settled at Nauvoo in 1840, and early in his administration
disturbances with them began. Acts of violence soon a<^cu-
mulated on both sides, till the Mormons left the state in the
spring of 1846^

The Mexican war was declared during his administration,

^o E. B. Talcott and Gurdon S. Hubbard belongs the honor of first pro-
])08ing this plan.

70 ooNsrmrnoNAL oonvention.

and the first regiment of Illinois volunteers ever enrolled for
field service was sent to this war.

Augustus C. French was elected governor at the August
election in 1846, and inaugurated December 9th. Joseph B.
Wells was elected lieutenant governor. The Mexican war was
then in full tide of progress, and five more regiments of Illi-
nois volunteers were raised by the state for its service. The
treaty of Guadaloupe Hidalgo, which bears date of February
2d, 1848, established peace between the two belligerent na-
tions, and the soldiers returned and were honorably discharged.

On the 7th of June, 1847, a convention was held in Spring-
field for the purpose of framing a new constitution. Its labors
were concluded on the 31st of the following August, and the
new constitution was ratified by a vote of the people in March,
1848. By its provisions a new election of state officers was
ordered.

Governor French was reelected, which gave him two terms,
though the first term was abridged to two years. Wm. Mur-
try was lieutenant governor during his second term. Previous
to the constitution of 1848 there had been no subdivision of
counties into civil townships, and consequently no township
organization. This machinery for the details of local govern-
ment was authorized by the new constitution, and was per-
fected in 1851, according to the system now in practice. The
law of homestead exemption was also introduced the same
year.

Joel A. Matteson was elected governor in November, 1852,
and inaugurated January 9th, 1853. G. Koemer was lieuten-
ant governor. At the same general election for governor a
new element in politics was evolved by making up a ticket for
state officers representing the abolition party, at the head of
which stood the name of Dexter A. Knowlton, candidate for
governor, and Philo Carpenter, candidate for lieutenant gov-
ernor. This was the first attempt to recognize this party
politically in the state. It was unsuccessful, as the candidates

B. B. WASHBUBNE. 71

were not elected, but to offset the defeat a substantial victory
to the anti-slavery cause was gained in November the same
year by the election of E. B. Washburne to congress. This
was accomplished by a union of the old whig party with the
anti-slavery party. The victory thus accomplished was no
barren one, for none knew better than Mr. Washburne how to
make the most of it, and from it grew the events, step by step,
which brought Abraham Lincoln before the people as an elo-
quent exponent of the cause that Mr. Washbume's election
had crowned with the prestige of victory and honored with
his official service.

Another notable event during Governor Matteson's admin-
istration was a state law for the support of public shools,
passed on the 15th of February, 1855.

Wm. H. Bissell was elected governor at the November elec-
tion in 1856, and inaugurated January 12th, 1857. John
Wood was elected lieutenant governor. It was during the
eventful campaign of Buchanan and Fremont's presidential
canvass. Mr. Bissell was a pronounced republican, and his
election was a crushing blow to the old parfy in power. As
might be supposed, his administration was a strong one, not
only in both branches of the legislature, but political circles out-
side contributed their share to keep the political cauldron boil-
ing. • In the winter of 1858-9 a United States senator was to
be chosen to fill the place of Judge Douglas' expiring term.
His reelection was looked upon to be a necessity to vindicate
the position he had taken in destroying the Missouri Com-
promise. Meanwhile the republican party were equally tena-
cious to defend the position which they had taken antagonistic
to the extension of slavery into new territories, and for an
instrument wherewith to accomplish this result by the defeat
of Douglas, their choice fell on Abraham Lincoln as a candi-
date to oppose him for the senatorship. The joint debate
between these two representatives of their respective parties
forms an era in national politics not soon to be forgotten. Both

72 ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

were champions, and under their forensic power the issue
gathered force throughout the length and breadth of the United
States. Mr. Douglas won the election by a small majority in
the legislature, while Mr. Lincoln had a small majority of the
voters, but his very defeat crowned htm with laurels. His
native power had been shown, and that was all the real exi-
gency demanded, as was proven by the sequel.

On the 8th of March, 1860, Governor Bissell died, and
John Wood, the lieutenant governor, served the ensuing ten
months of the term. On the 16th of the following May the
great republican convention met in Chicago. That this place
was selected for it gave evidence of the commanding position
of the state, especially in an issue which even then threatened '
the peace of the whole Union. On the third ballot at this
convention Abraham Lincoln was nominated as the republican
candidate for the presidency, and Hannibal Hamlin was nomi-
nated as candidate for the vice presidency, when the conven-
tion adjourned.

Richard Yates was elected governor of Illinois at the autumn
election of 1860, and inaugurated January 14th, 1861. Thomas
Marshall was elected lieutenant governor. The alarms of civil
war were even then sounding, but when Fort Sumter was fired
on these alarms became realities. Then it was that our Illi-
nois senator, Stephen A. Douglas, covered himself with gloiy,
and honored his state by a hearty endorsement of Mr. Lin-
coln's policy, and although he soon afterwards died, he had
set a noble example of patriotism and magnanimity to his
party, which had a most salutary eflTect on the state and on
the issues of lihe war.

The number of troops sent from lUiuois to the field was
186,941 infantry, 32,082 cavalry, and 7,277 artillery, making
an aggregate of 225,300. Besides these, the array of Illinois
men who acted as leaders of armies in the field or of public
opinion in favor of the principles for which the Union armies
were fighting, stands at the head of the list in the whole

LINCOLN A86A88INATB). 73

United States, and fdmiBhes an historical record worthy of a
great state. The following are the prominent names of this
list, to which large numbers might be added of less fame but
equal merit as to zeal for the cause: Abraham Lincoln, Stephen
A. Douglas, Ulysses S. Grant, John A. Logan, Elihu B.
Washbume, Elmer E. Ellsworth, Colonel Mulligan, B. J.
Sweet, Kichard Yates, Richard J. Oglesby, John M. Palmer,
John L. Beveridge, E. D. Baker, John F. Farnsworth, R. J.
IngersolL

Richard J. Oglesby was elected governor at the November
election of 1864, and was inaugurated January 1866. Wm.
Bross was elected lieutenant governor at the same time. Peace
followed the next spring, and the ratification of the thirteenth
amendAent to the constitution of the United States, which
abolished slavery, was promptly effected by the Illinois legis-
lature. The following April, on the morning of the 15th,
news came of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, which
had taken place the evening previous at Ford's theatre. The
name of the assassin was John Wilkes Booth. No state in
the Union felt the force of this cruel blow more than Illinois.
Mr. Lincoln was her honored son, her pride, and it was like a
death in the family. The state was in mourning, business was
laid aside in cities, and their stores were closed without wait-
ing for public orders to do so, and grief and indignation took
possession of every heart.

John M. Palmer was elected governor of Illinois at the
November election of 1868, and inaugurated January 11th,
1869. John Doughterty was lieutenant governor The great
feature of his administration was the convention which met
in Springfield December 13th, 1869, to amend the constitu-
tion of the state, which had not been changed since 1848.
Mr. Kellogg speaks of the work this convention accomplished
as follows: "In adopting the constitution of 1870 the people
forbid special legislation, condemned loose methods of legis-
lation, stopped reckless debt on the part of the state, county

74 STATE INSTITUTIONS.

and mxiiiicipality, restricted very materially the power of the
legislature, while enjoining particular radical changes, increased
the reverence for law, the responsibility of those who admin-
ister it, and gave to the minority in every county a voice in
making the laws. No other state constitution embraces so
many inhibitions, and none so many direct mandates."

Richard J. Oglesby was reelected governor in the autumn
of 1872, and inaugurated January 13th, 1873. John L.
Beveridge was elected lieutenant governor at the same time.
January 23d Governor Oglesby resigned, and was elected to
the United States senate. Mr. Beveridge i\ow became gov-
ernor. Among the most important measures during his
administration was one for reorganizing the state institutions,
charitable, reformatory, and penal, of which the following are
the names: Northern Hospital for the Insane, at Elgin; East-
ern Hospital for the Insane, at Kankakee; Central Hospital
for the Insane, at Jacksonville; Southern Hospital for the
Insane, at Anna; Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, at
Jacksonville; Institution for the Blind, at Jacksonville ; Asy-
lum for Feeble-Minded Children, at Lincoln; Eye and Ear
Infirmary, at Chicago; Illinois Orphan Home, at Normal;
Industrial University, at Urbana; State Normal University,
at Normal; Southern Normal University, at Carbondale; Illi-
nois State Penitentiary, at Joliet; Southern Illinois Peniten-
tiary, at Chester; State Reform School, at Pontiac.

Shelby M. Cullom was elected governor in the fall of 1876,
and inaugurated January 8th, 1877. Andrew Shuman, of the
Chicago Evening Journal^ was at the same time elected lieu-
tenant governor. Great depression prevailed in financial
circles at this time, as a consequence of the heavy failures of
1873, the eflfect of which had seemed to gather force from
that time to the end of Governor CuUom's first administra-
tion. This unspeculative period was not calculated to call
forth any new issues, but the governor's energies were at one
time put to task to quell a spirit of insubordination that had

ffTATB OUT OF DEBT. 76

been begun in Pittsburg among the laboring classes, and
transferred to Illinois at Chicago, East St. Louis and Braid-
wood, at which places laboring men for a short time refused
to work or allow others to work. These disturbances were
soon quelled, and the wheels of industry again set in motion.

Governor Cullom was reelected in the fall of 1880, and
inaugurated January lOtli, 1881. John M. Hamilton was
elected lieutenant governor at the same time. The governor
announced in his message that the last dollar of the state debt
had been paid or provided for. The only amounts not paid
were $23,000 due, upon which interest had stopped, and which
had never been presented for collection and supposed to have
been lost, and about $950,000 due from the state to the school
fund, and which cannot be paid, as that fund only requires the
interest on the amount. As the state annually collects for the
school fiind and pays out to the counties $1,000,000, it is
simply a legal fiction to call this a debt.

March 4th, 1883, the term of David Davis as senator from
Illinois expired, and Governor Cullom was chosen to fill his
place. This promoted Lieutenant Governor John M. Hamilton
to the position made vacant by the resignation of Governor
Cullom, and he is the present governor of Illinois.

76

CHAPTER VIL

STATE GOVERNMENT OF ILLINOIS.

BT AABOH W. KKLUOGQ,

Blackstone defines law as ^^ a rale of action"; civil law as a
rule of civil action, prescribing what is right and forbidding
what is wrong.

The civil government of the state is estaUished by the will
of the people — ^by which word is meant male citizen of legal
age — as expressed in a written constitution, voted for directly
by the people, and in laws passed in conformity to that con-
stitution by a general assembly, composed of two honses, the
senate and the house of representatives, elected by the people
from fifty-one separate districts.

All laws to be valid must be passed by both houses in the
way prescribed by the constitution, must be in accordance with
its requirements, and not repugnant to the laws and constitu-
tion of the United States.

The powers of government of this state, like all others in
civilized countries, are divided into three distinct departments,
legislative, executive, and judicial, no one of which can inter-
fere with either of the others.

THE LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT.

Of Election, — ^The powers and duties of the legislative de-
partment are wholly defined in the state constitution; restric-
tions upon its powers are provided both in the state and fed-
eral constitutions.

Elections of members of the general assembly occur bien-
nially, on the years of even date, on Tuesday next after the

SLBonoNs. 77

first Monday of November. At each of these elections all the
members of the house are elected, three from each district,
and as nearly as possible one-half of the senators. The dis-
tricts are reformed every ten years, on the year following the
year of the federal census, and must be formed of contiguous
territory, and, as nearly as may be, without dividing counties
(except where a county is large enough for more than one dis-
trict) of equal population. The number of districts cannot
be increased or diminished.

Members of the house are elected on what is called the
" cumulative plan," a plan by which the political party which
is in the minority in any district may elect one of the three
representatives by concentrating their force, and hence is
frequently called the "minority plan." This plan permits
any voter to cast three votes for representative. He may cast
all for one candidate, two for one and one for another, one for
each of three, or one and a half votes for each of two can-
didates. No other state in the Union has this cumulative
plan of voting. In all elections the candidate receiving the
highest number of votes is elected.

Powers and Duties. — All laws passed by the general assem-
bly must have been read in full on three separate days in each
house, printed, and have received the ajffirmative votes of a
majority of those elected to each house — that is, twenty-six in
the senate and seventy-seven in the house, and the names of
those voting must be entered on the journal. In addition to
these constitutional provisions, each house adopts certain rules,
which may be, and often are, suspended by a two-thirds vote.
These rules provide, among other things, that bills shall be re-
ferred to the standing committees of the house, where they
are discussed, and amendments suggested and prepared, but no
committee can do more than recommend action. It is also
the duty, specifically, of the general assembly to appropriate
money to carry on the state government, pass laws to provide
a system of free schools, to regulate the charges of railroads,

78 LBGISLATIVE BESTBICTIONS.

to protect producers and shippers of grain, for inspection of
grain, to raise revenue, to fix fees and salaries of oflScers, to
provide for county and township organizations, and make cer-
tain changes in the judicial system of the state.

lA/rwUationa cmd Restrictions. — ^The theory of the legis-
lative power is, and we derived it from the mother country,
which has no written formal constitution, that a legislature
may do anything not physically impossible. To obviate the
difficulties which would grow out of the use of absolute
power, all the states of the Union have restricted legislative
power. Illinois stands in advance of all other states in the
number of such limitations. The most important of these,
next to those established by the " bill of rights," common to
all written constitutions — no person shall be deprived of life,
liberty or property, without due process of law, shall enjoy
religious liberty, liberty of the press, trial by jury, may bear
arms, may give bail when accused of all crimes except murder
in the first degree, to freely assemble, petition, etc. — are: that
all legislation shall be general, no special or local laws ^hall
be passed; that lotteries or gift enterprises shall not be auth-
orized; that no bill shall contain but one subject, and that
shall be expressed in its title; no existing law shall be altered
or amended by reference to its title, but the section amended
must appear in the bill; that the canal shall not be sold or
leased, nor more than three and a half million dollars ex-
pended on the state house without a vote of the people; that
counties and other localities shall not be authorized to vote
aid to railroads or other enterprises, or exempt any property
from taxation; that no debt shall be authorized beyond 5 per
cent, of the assessed valuation of the real and personal property
of any county, city, town or district; that the general assembly
shall not increase its own pay, or that of any officer of the state
or county, and that it shall not assume the debt of any county.

THE EXEOUnVE DEPABTMElTr.

The executive department enforces and executes the will of

BXSOUTIVB DEPABTMENT. 79

the people as expressed in their constitution and laws, subject
to such interpretation as tne judiciary may give.

How Constituted, — The execution of the hiws is placed in
the hands of a governor, secretary of state, treasurer, attorney
general, auditor of public accounts, superintendent of public
instruction, and state board of equalization of assessments,
elected by the people, all for four years except the treasurer,
who holds his office for two years and cannot be his own suc-
cessor, and in several boards of commissioners and trustees
appointed by the governor with the approval of the senate.

The " boards," which are all established by law, and are
mere assistants of the governor in performing specific acts of
duty and authority, are: Railroad and warehouse commission-
ers, three members; commissioners of state charities, five
members; health, seven members; education, fifteen mem-
bers; penitentiary commissioners, three members; canal com-
missioners, three members; fish commissioners, three mem-
bers; pharmacy, five members; and boards of trustees for
each state institution, three members. The state board of
agriculture, twenty-one members, which belongs to the exec-
utive branch, is elected by delegates selected by county and
union agricultural societies, as prescribed by law.

Duties. — The Governor is charged with seeing that the laws
are faithfully executed; he must approve all bills before they
become laws; appoint officers where no provision is made for
their election, and, through the various boards of commission-
ers and trustees, enforce laws and regulations in the various
branches of the state government. He may remove officers
for dereliction of duty; must approve of accounts other than
regular salaries; is commander-in-chief of the militia, and
commissions all officers.

The Lieutenant Governor presides over the senate, but cannot
vote except in case of a tie, and acts as governor in the absence
fipom the state of that officer, or during his temporary inability
to act, and become governor for the balance of the term of

80 8TATB OFFICEB8.

office in case of resignation, death, or removal from office of
the governor. From the reports made to him by all other
state officers, commissioners and trustees, all of which are
printed, we derive most of the information which we have of
the affairs of the state, its expenses, and what the money is
expended for.

The Auditor of Public Accounts stands between the people
and the laws. No money can be drawn from the treasury but
upon his warrant, and his duty is to see that the money has been
appropriated by laws properly passed, and all accounts therefor
properly certified and approved before he draws his warrant.
He has also, by virtue of his office, charge of the insurance
department of the state. To him all companies report, and
receive from him authority to do business in the state.

The Secretary of State keeps all the records. He must keep
and preserve the journals of the general assembly, a roll of all
laws passed, a register of all official acts of the governor, keep
the great seal of state, attest all proclamations and commis-
sions of the governor, certify to all copies of laws, issue all
certificates of incorporation, and take charge of and preserve
all the property of the state at Springfield.

The Treasurer keeps the public funds and all moneys directed
by law to be placed in his custody; he receives and pays out
money only on the order of the auditor of public accounts.

The Attorney General is the law officer of the state. He
consults and advises state, county, and other officials on law
points connected with their official duties, appears as counsel
for the state in any courts, state or federal. He may attend at
the trial of any person charged with crime, and direct the
prosecution, and give opinion in writing to either branch of the
general assembly, or its standing committees, when called for.

Tlie Superintendent of Public Instruction has charge of the
educational interests of the state, gives counsel and advice to
county and city superintendents, and works to elevate the
standard of education and the qualification of teachers.

JUDICIAL DEPABTMRNT. 81

The State Board of Equalization equalizes the assessments
of real and personal property as made by the different counties,
and assesses the capital stock of corporations, the tracks and
rolling stock of railroads, and sends to each county clerk the
result of their labors. The auditor is ex-officio the chairman
of the board.

THE JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT.

The Judicial Power of the state is vested by the constitution
in one supreme court, seven judges; four appellate courts,
three judges each; circuit courts, a superior court of Cook
county, a few city courts established by special acts previous
to the adoption of the present constitution and retained by its
provisions, probate courts in counties of one hundred thousand
or more inhabitants, county courts, which are also courts of
probate in all counties of less inhabitants than necessary to
entitle them to probate courts, and justices of the peace. Every
court except the latter has a clerk for the keeping of its records.
The general duties of courts are to hear and determine issues
between citizens, to try persons accused of crime, to construe
the laws passed by the legislature, decide as to their constitu-
tionality, and of probate courts to settle the estates of deceased
persons and exercise a control over the property of minors.
In the former cases mentioned, juries of the people, except
explicitly waived by the parties, must hear the evidence, under
direction of the court, and decide the matter. In construing
and deciding the constitutionality of laws no jury is had. All
laws are supposed to be constitutional until otherwise decided.

Teware of Office, — Judges, clerks, prosecuting attorneys
and justices of the peace are elected by the people ; supreme
judges for nine years, their clerks for six years, circuit judges
for six years, and all other officers for four years, except the
justices of the peace in Cook county, who are appointed by
the governor, with the consent of the senate, upon the recom-
mendation of the judges of that county.

6

82 oouimr offioebs.

Cov/rUy Officers. — In addition to the officers mentioned^
there are elected in each county, by the people, a sheriff,
treasurer, county superintendent of schools, coroner, surveyor,
and county attorney, who.e duties are readily understood.
The county clerk is ex-afficio clerk of the county court. The
clerk of the circuit court is ex-offido recorder of deeds and mort-
gages, except in counties of sixty thousand inhabitants, in which
counties a recorder is elected. In counties which have adopted
" township organization," the county affairs are managed by a
board of supervisors, elected annually, but in townships of
more than four thousand inhabitants additional ones, or assist-
ant supervisors, are elected, according to population. The
affairs of Cook county are managed by a board of fifteen com-
missioners, a portion of whom are elected each year; but, as
a part of the old system of township organization, township
officers are elected annually in that county, including the three
townships which make up the city of Chicago. In counties
which have not adopted " township organization," the affairs
are conducted by a board of county commissioners, consisting
of three members. In New England the township was the
unit of political power. This principle has spread west, like
other New England institutions, and has become the rule in
tiie northern portion of this state.

Township Officers. — In counties under township organiza-
tion there are elected each year, besides officers heretofore
named, a town clerk, assessor, collector, highway commissioner,
and every four years justices of the peace and constables, who,
although elected in and by the voters of townships, have
county jurisdiction.

City Offi^erSy etc. — All cities which are under the general
incorporation act elect a mayor, clerk, attorney, treasurer, and
not less than six aldermen for two years. The mayor appoints
the other officers. Cities which are under old special char-
ters elect such officers as their particular charters provide for.
Villages elect a board of trustees each year. Townships elect

VILLAGE OFFICERS. 88

three school trustees to care for their school lunds, and scnool
districts elect three directors, or six members of boards of
education. It would seem that we have no lack of elections
and officials. By the laws of Illinois, women are eligible to
any school office.

OONOLUSIOX.

The preparation of these pages has been a labor of love by
one inspired by unbounded admiration for a state great in all
those Uiings which awaken esteem and patriotic pride.
We have a state great in area, of incomparable richness
of soil, the productive capacity of which we have not yet
fully tested. There is not on the face of the globe another
tract of equal size, of equal productive capacity. It has
nearly six hundred miles of navigable water boundary. Its
extreme length from north to south gives it a variety of
climate enjoyed by few other states in the Union. It is
underlaid with coal sufficient to give it manufacturing power
for millions who are to make it their home. Its progressive
strides from a distant border to the position of a central state ;
from the seat of Indian trade in trinkets and furs to a great
commercial center; from a territory to the foremost agricult-
ural stale in the Union, has been witnessed by many of her
citizens who are still actively engaged in the persuits of every
day life. Such is the condition of Illinois in 1883.

84 FIBST MEBOHANDISB.

CHAPTER Vra.

COMMERCIAL HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

No nation or state ever rose high in the scale of civilization
whose commercial relations with the outside world were lim-
ited, and it may with truth be said that nations rise in wealth
and grandeur almost in proportion as they barter, buy and
sell with other nations or states.

The progress of Illinois in this direction has been marked
by many a change in the varied history of the country. Buf-
falo hides were the first articles of merchandise ever shipped
from the Illinois country, and the export of these began about
1720. They were sent down the Mississippi river to New
Orleans, which had then just been laid out as a French village.
A few years later wheat, flour, and other agricultural produc-
tions followed in the same channel. The French fur traders
came into Northern Illinois as early as the winter of 1674-5,*
and bought furs of the Indians for the Canada trade, but this
was not properly an export trade by white men, for these
traders were employed by Canadian companies to do this work.

Shortly after the English took possession of Illinois in 1765,
the British board of trade took the subject under consider-
ation of turning the trade of their French subjects here away
from the French of New Orleans to the lakes and the St.
Lawrence river, but nothing was ever done to accomplish such

a result.

Spain purchased Louisiana of France in 1762, which country

then included the territory west of the Mississippi river and

*See Marquette's Journal, written in "Chicagou," 1675, translated by J.
0. Shea, and published in English in Dawson's Historical Mag., New York.

SPANiaH POLICY. 85

New Orleans on its east bank. Shortly after the peace of
Paris, in 1783, Spain closed the navigation of the Mississippi
river against the commerce of the west,* which cut off her
only available channel of communication with the sea, for the
whole of Northern Illinois was then a desolate wild, and the
shores of Lake Michigan could not be reached by the French
of Illinois except by a long overland route across the prairies,
over which neither roads had been built, nor had streams been
bridged. *

In 1795 Spain agreed by treaty, negotiated October 27th by
Thomas Pinkney on the part of the United States, to yield to
the latter power the free navigation of the Mississippi,-}* but
her procrastinating policy in relinquishing her forts on the
banks of this stream, at Natchez and other places, delayed its
fulfillment till the Spanish government retroceded Louisiana
to the French in 1800, by the secret treaty of St. Tldefonso.
This treaty was not published to the nations till two years
later, the next year after which Louisiana was purchased ©f
the French by the United States, the treaty for which was
ratified by congress on the 21st of October, 1803.

From this time onward till the water craft of the lakes had
reached Chicago as common carriers, which was in about
1835, the export trade of Illinois went to New Orleans with-
out hindrance, and even from this latter date (1835) to the

♦When England conceded the Mississippi river as the western boundary of
the United States at the peace of 1783, she also transferred to the new govern-
ment her rights of navigating this stream. When this treaty was signed
at Paris, it was done without the knowledge of the Spanish minister, who
claimed for his government all the territory between the AUeghanies and
the Mississippi. Spain thus balked in her ambition to secure the valley of
the Mississippi to herself, was smarting under the sting of having been
humiliated by the able diplomacy of American statesmen, which was the
cause of her waywardness in excluding the Americans from navigating the
Mississippi. Her excuse for this course was that England had transferred
a claim to which she herself had no right, which was perhaps true, but it
was in vain that the Spanish government protested against the new order
of destiny that the fortunes of war had brought.

tSee Treaty of San Lorenzo el Real, Am. State Papers, 1705.

86 PIONEEB BAILBOADS.

era of railroads, the Mississippi river was a more important
channel of trade to the State of Illinois than the lakes. Mean-
time the new motive power, destined to transcend both of the
original channels of trade, was slowly and surely approaching
the state from the Atlantic coast across the intervening
country, studding its broad plains with towns in its course,
and multiplying its wealth.

The legislature of Illinois was composed of men of am-
bitious purposes from the first, and this spirit s^med to gather
strength as other states to the eastward set the example of
building canals, and particularly railroads.

The first official act here in this direction took place Janu-
ary 28th, 1831, at which time an act was passed by the gen-
eral assembly for the survey of a route for a canal or railroad
in St. Clair county.* Other plans for public transportation
by means of canals, slack water navigation and railroads, were
subsequently chartered by the state, some of which were pre-
mature, while others showed the wisdom and forecast of their
architects. Of the latter sort the Galena & Chicago Union
and the Illinois Central railroads were examples — the first as
the pioneer east and west line through the state, and the last
as the pioneer north and south line from the southern extrem-
ity of the state to its great commercial emporium on the lakes
and to its northwestern tangent.

The Galena & Chicago Union railway company was incor-
porated by an act of the legislature January 16th, 1836. The
first ten miles of the road was finished from Chicago to Har-
lem December 30th, 1848. The road was completed to the
Mississippi river at Fulton December 10th, 1855. It was the
first railroad that turned a locomotive wheel in the city of
Chicago, and the first built in the state to connect the com-
merce of the Mississippi to that of the lakes — the dream of a
generation now fulfilled. In October, 1865, this road was

*See paper read by W. K. Ackeiman before the Chicago Historical So-
ciety, February, 1888.

LAKE MICHIGAN. 87

consolidated with the Chicago & North-Westem railway, but
its original name will live in history, together with the faith
which its builders had in Chicago when they began the work
with but small means and slender patronage.

The Illinois Central road was one that had been planned in
the minds of the ablest men in Illinois as early as 1835. The
canal connecting the lakes with the Illinois river was the
original thought not only of Illinois statesmen, but its concep-
tion was the admiration of the financiers throughout the north.
As soon as provision had been made which should give this
enterprise an assurance of success, the next thing to be done
was to extend the means of transportation from the southern
terminus of the canal at La Salle to the confluence of the Ohio
and Mississippi rivers. On the 18th of January, 1836, the
legislature took the business in hand and chartered a road for
this purpose, but this and other attempts in the same direc-
tion were failures till January 14th, 1851, at which time the
present Illinois Central railroad was incorporated. It was
finished to Dunleith June 12th, 1855, and to Chicago Septem-
ber 26th, 1856.* Ere this time other trunk lines were
traversing the state, and many more were under consideration.

The Michigan Southern and Central roads were completed
from the east to Chicago, the first in February and the last in
May, 1852, which two were the great exemplary models after
which so many rivals for eastern connections with Chicago
have been built. The success which these first attempts
achieved established a basis on which capital has ever since
sought investment in Illinois, and established commercial re-
lations between every section of this state and the world at
large.

Lake Michigan extends her waters over 400 miles south of
the northern limit of the United States, which is on the 49th
parallel. The space thus crossed lies between the parallels of
41° 30' and 49°, and on this broad belt between the Atlantic

^Ackeiman's Address.

88 ILLINOIS THE OOMMBBOIAL F00U8.

and the Pacific chiefly lie the cities and the channels of travel
between the east and the west. All these are forced around
the southern extremity of Lake Miciiigan, mostly through
Chicago, and thence across the state. Below Illinois there
are no great trunk lines leading east and west, but from its
southern portions the railroads take southwesterly, southern,
and soutlieasterly directions, as from a common commercial
centre of the United States. Such the physical forces of na-
ture have made Illinois, and the lines of travel only act as
auxiliaries to these forces.

No attempt will here be made to even approximate the
amount of wealth which has come to the state or grown up in
its midst through the introduction of railroads. This has
been shared by the land owners and the railroad companies.
The laws of the state have regulated the prices for carrying
passengers on the railroads, and made some, general restric-
tions as to the charges on freight, but a higher law than man
can make has set limits to freight charges in the lakes and
rivers that inviron the state. Added to these, the Illinois and
Michigan canal, and the Hennepin canal when finished, will
set at defiance any attempt on the part of the railroad com-
panies to demand unjust charges should they be unwise enough
to pursue such a suicidal policy.

That the present financial condition of Illinois is one of
unexampled prosperity must be apparent to every observer.
The state is free of debt, and agriculture, the great interest of
the state, is carried on by perfected machinery with surer
rewards than ordinary mercantile investments in large cities,
and the farmer stands as high in the social scale as the legis-
lator or the professional citizen, nor is any class excluded from
his society if clothed with the dignity of courtesy and intel-
ligence, and to abate these terms as requisite to good standing
in society would be dangerous to the welfare of the rising
generation.

FOBT D£AIUK>SN BUILT. 89

CHAPTER IX.

CHICAGO.

The city of Chicago and its immediate environs contains
about one-fifth of the population of the whole state. It rep-
resents the interests not only of the entire state, but to a cer-
tain extent those of the norther portions of the United States
which are brought into commercial relations with her, and
also the interest of the entire valley of the Mississippi, and
Texas to a similai* extent. Her name is older than her history.
It was probably first applied to the place as the '* Chicagou
portage." There was but little attraction to bring the native
population here to take up more than a transient residence, con-
sequently it never became the seat of a large Indian village.

In 1803, shortly after the purchase of Louisiana, the United
States government formed the design of building a fort on the
shores of Lake Michigan, and sent commissioners to select a
site for the purpose. They selected the mouth of the St.
Joseph river for the locality of it, but the Ottawas and Chip-
pewas refused them the ground, and they next proceeded to
the Chicago river, on the opposite side of the lake. Six miles
square of land at the mouth of this river had been ceded to
the United States by the Indians at the treaty of Greenville
in 1795, and on this spot the fort was built. It was finished
in 1804 and named Fort Dearbo'^n.

During the war of 1812 it was evacuated by its garrison on
the 15th of May. A slaughter of the troops immediately
ensued ere they had retreated more than two miles on their
way to Fort Wayne, their point of destination.*
*8ee Wabun.

90 OHIOAGO CHARTERED.

The fort was rebuilt in 1816, and Chicago has ever since
that time been a permanent residence of American pioneers
and settlers. The next year, 1817, Messrs. Conant and Mack,
fur traders at Detroit, established a branch at Chicago under
the superintendence of John Crafts.*

Soon after this the American Fur. Company bought out the
establishment, and employed Mr. Crafts in their service. This
was the pioneer business house of Chicago, and its trade was
Indian blankets and trinkets in exchange for furs.

The Pottowattomjes were then the all-prevailing power in
Northern Illinois, there being no white settlers in the state
north of Peoria except at Chicago. Fort Dearborn was always
well garrisoned, and ever kept in readiness for an Indian out-
break should such a calamity occur.

In 1821 Chicago and its environs were surveyed in govern-
ment sections.-j* In 1829 Chicago was surveyed and platted
into village lots, and a map of the town engraved in St. Louis
the next year and published. August 10th, 1833, Chicago
was incorporated as a village, and March 4:th, 1837, was char
tered as a city. Since that time the growth of the city has
been more rapid than that of any other city in America, and,
as far as known, than any other in the world. It now ranks
as the third city in the United States in population, and sus-
tains about the same grade as to business. The great modem
event in its history is its fire of 1871, a description of which,
by request, Mr. C. C. P. Holden, the president of the common
council at the time of the fire, has kindly furnished the writer,
as follows :

Bufus Blancha/rd, Wheaton, Illinois:

Dear Sir. — In accordance with your request, I submit herewith a state-
ment compiled from such data as I consider nearly reliable touching the
losses of both personal and real (buildings) estate destroyed by the great
fire of October 8th and 9th, 1871.

♦This information is obtained from Gurdon S. Hubbard, who came to
Chicago the next year, and still lives at the place.

fCopies of these surveys are preserved at Handy & Co.'s, Chicago.

THE GREAT FIEE. 91

The fire destroyed the very heart of our city, taking in its general course
all government, state, county, and a large portion of the municipal build-
ings. In its devastating route it swept over 2,200 acres of soil, burning to
destruction 15,766 buildings, 175 manufacturing establishments, 121 miles
of stone and other sidewalks, and 78 miles of streets were embraced in the
limits of the vast conflagration.

To enumerate the property destroyed by the fire would be an impossi-
bility, but a tolerably close approximation of the losses can be furnished,
and herewith I give you a statement as nearly correct as long research can
make it.

The United States government lost all its buildings, including the cus-
tom house, and $2,180,000 in money. The city lost, in round numbers,
more than $8,000,000 ; the county also, lost heavily. Then there were the
losses of the great trunk line railways, the chamber of conunerce and the
board of trade, warehouses and elevators, banking corporations and pri-
vate bankers and brokers, insurance corporations, newspaper offices and
effects, hotels and restaurants, opera houses, theatres and other places of
amusement, churches, schools and other places of learning, the manufac-
tories of all kinds, the vast shipping interest, including vessels, canal
boats, tugs and dredges, flour, grain and provisions, the brewers, distillers
and dealers in wines and liquors, business blocks, stores and dwellings, dry
goods, groceries, hardware, iron safes and other metals, coal and wood,
clothing, drugs, hats, caps and furs, books, stationery and paper stock,
boots and shoes, furniture and bedding, pianos, organs and other musical
instruments and music, millinery, jewelry, leather and harness material,
tailors' supplies, paints and oils, livery and livery stock, libraries and paint-
ings, and artist supplies, and all other kinds of business not herein enu-
merated—a total of $187,927,000, made up as follows, to wit:
15,768 buildings (and in this number were the business blocks,
custom house, court house, city hall, newspaper offices, rail-
road stations, depots and offices, hotels, churches, opera

houses and theatres), and dwellings $49,289,000

Household goods, silverware, etc 81,586,000

Personal effects, including jewelry and money 19,840,000

Flour, grain and provisions 5,262,000

Wholesale and retail business 46,645,000

Manufacturers and shipping 14,055,000

All other interest not herein enumerated, city losses outside of
city hall, public libraries, records, and miscellaneous of every
description 21,350,000

Grand total $187,927,000

Thus it will be seen that the total losses by the great fire of 1871 were
$187,927,000. The total valuation of taxable property in the city of Chi-
cago, as assessed for the municipal year, 1871, was $289,746,470. The
assessment was made for that year on the basis of 50 per cent, of the true
valuation of the property thus assessed. Hence the real value of all taxable

92 THE GREAT FIRE.

property in the city for that year was $579,492,940, and thus was wiped
out of Chicago's real wealth a little more than 32 per cent, of the same,
which would be 185,487,740, leaving a margin of loss over and above this
amount of $2,489,260. These great losses by fire, the like of which were
never heard of before in this or any other country during the world's his-
tory, were partially met by 201 insurance companies, which companies had
at risk in the burnt district the sum of $100,225,780, of which amount they
paid, according to approximation, the sum of $50,178,925, leaving a net
loss to the burned out property owners of $137,748,075. Sixty-eight
insurance companies, with assets of $24,867,109, were compelled to go into
liquidation through losses sustained by the fire. Among the products of
our soil, and which are enumerated in the above item as destroyed, may be
tnentioned 15,000 barrels of flour, 4,000 tierces of lard, 1,500,000 lbs. cut
meats, 6,000 barrels of pork, 2,400 tons broom com. Finally, it is safe to
say that on that fatal day in the history of Chicago fully one-third of all
her real wealth was destroyed by the conflagration. Not only this, but
there were rendered homeless by that terrible calamity more than 94,000
souls, but sadder still is the fact, never to be forgotten, that 300 human
lives were sacriflced to the flames of that ever to be remembered day.

Most respectfully,

CHARLES C. P. HOLDEN.
Chicago, Illinois, April 24th, 1883.

The total of contributions that promptly came to Chicago
for the relief of the sufferers was $4,820,148.16. Of this
amount $973,897.80 was from foreign countries. The re-
building of the burnt district was a wonder of no less mag-
nitude tha,n the fire itself. The business portion of the city
now presents not only the appearance of newness, but the
buildings are of the most approved pattern of architecture
and convenience. By the census of 1880 her population was
503,304, since which time there is evidence of increase in
numbers in an equal ratio of that which has marked her
growth since she was a village of two or three hundred per-
sons in 1832.

INDIAN NAMES IN ILLINOIS 93

CHAPTER X.

INDIAN NAMES IN ILLINOIS.

BT E. M. HAINES.

Algonquin. — ^A town in Illinois. The name of one of the
principal groups of North American Indians, given to them
by the French. Its meaning is in some doubt. It is derived
from the Algonquin language, and is said to mean people of
the other aide^ or opposite shore,

AsHKUM. — Alg, — A town in Illinois; more and more. Thus
AshTcurrb-ahhoose^ he is getting worse (more sick). AshJcum
Wahishkah^ it is getting whiter.

Appanoose. — Alg. — ^A town in Illinois. Name of an Indian
chief of the Fox tribe. TTie grandchild.

Cayuga {Gwe u-gweJi) — Irq. — A town in Illinois, Mucky-
land^ from a tribe of Indians in New York of the Iroquois
nation; they were called Owe-u-gweh-o-no^ " People of the
Mucky land.''

Chebanse. — Avg. — ^A town in Illinois; Little Duck^ from
an Indian chief of that name.

Chemung. — Irq^. — A town in Illinois; from a river of that
name in New York, signifying hig hom^ so named by the In-
dians from finding in the bed of the river a fossil elephant's
tusk.

Chicago. — The word Chicago is understood to be an Indian
word; at least it is derived from that source. What its pre-
cise meaning is, or whether it has any particular meaning at
all in its present form as now applied, is a matter of consid-
erable dispute among those who have given the subject atten-

94 rsmnAJS saxes is iluxois.

tion. The word comes to ns through the early French ex-
plorers of the west as an Tndian word, from the language of
the Algonquin group. Whilst this group of the North
American tribes had one general or generic language by which
they were distinguished, each tribe had its dialect, differ-
ing more or less from that of the other tribes of the same
group. The standard or parent language, however, since this
people became known to the whites, was that spoken by the
Ojibways (Chippeways), the most powerful and numerous of
the various tribes of this group. Those who pretend to make
any positive assertion as to the correct meaning of this word
as an Indian word, seem to have confined their investigations
on the subject to the Indian language as spoken by the Ojib-
ways, without reference to other dialects, seeming to ignore
the fact that it could come from any other source, whereupon
they reach the conclusion, and so assert, that it means oniony
garlicj leelCj or skunk. So far as appears at this day, there
seems to have been no special inquiry into the origin or mean-
ing of this word until about the time of the rebuilding of
Fort Dearborn in 1816. The year following that event Colonel
Samuel A. Starrow visited this place, and in a letter to Gen-
eral Jacob Brown, of the United States army, refers to the
river here as " the River Chicago (or in the English — wild
onion river)." Mr. Schoolcraft, the Indian historian, in his
" Narrative of an Expedition to the Sources of the Mississippi
River in 1820," in giving an account of visiting Chicago on
the return of said expedition, speaking of the Chicago river,
says: " Its banks consist of a black arenaceous fertile soil,
which is stated to produce abundantly, in its season, the wild
species of cepa or leek. This circumstance has led the natives to
name it the place of the wild leek. Such is the origin of the term
Chicago, which is a derivative by elision and French annotation
from the work chi-ka/wy-ong. Kaug is the Algonquin name
for the hystrix or porcupine. It takes the prefix, chi^ when
applied to the mustelaputorius (pole-cat). The particle, cAt,

INDIAN NAMES IN ILLINOIS. 05

is the common prefix of nouns to denote greatness in any
natural object, but it is employed as here to mean the increase
or excess, as acridness or pungency in quality. The penulti-
mate ong denotes locality. The putorious is so named from
this plant." Bishop Baraga, in an appendix to his Ojibway
dictionary, says the word Chicago is a word in the Cree
dialect, a tribe of the Algonquin group called also Knistenos.
"From Chicag or Sikag^ a skunk, a kind of wildcat,
which, at the local term, makes Chicagoky In his dictionary
mentioned he defines an onion in the Ojibway dialect as
^kitchijigagmaTij (French orthography), English orthography,
kit-che-zhig-a-gam-amh. The definition of onion by Rev.
Edward F. Wilson in his dictionary of the Ojibway language
is keche-ahe-gaug-uh-wumh. He defines skunk as zhe gaug.
John Tanner, for thirty years a captive among the Ojibways,
and many years United States Indian interpreter, in a " Cata-
logue of Plants and Animals found in the country of the
Ojibways, with English names," appended to the narrative of
his captivity, defines skunk as she-gahg. He defines onion as
she-gau-ga-winzhe (skunk-weed). In a note therto by Dr.
James, editor of Tanner's narrative, it is added: " From shih-
gau-ga-winzhe^ this word in the singular number, some derive
the name Chicago^ The Indians it seems, at least the Ojib-
ways, called the onion, garlic, and other weeds of like odor
by a name which signified skunk-weed, and in the Ojibway
language the words used so express it. It is noticed that all
who contend that the word Chicago, as applied to the river and
city of that name, means skunk, onion or the like, derive their
convictions on the subject from one or more of the authorities
which are before cited, or from some one familiar with the
Ojibway language, who forms his convictions to, the same
effect from the mere coincidence of sounds. History is so
unsatisfactory and varied in regard to this word, that we are
left at this day to determine its meaning solely upon the basis
of similarity of sounds. For there seems to be no fact or

96 INDIAN NAMES IN ILLINOIS.

incident narrated or mentioned in history that leads with any
degree of certainty either to the original meaning of this
word as intended, or to the dialect from which it is derived.
And it is to be confessed that upon the theory aforesaid, con-
ceding that the word comes from the Ojibway language or
dialect, no one is prepared to dispute the assertion so gener-
ally made that the word is derived iTom 'skunk. The word
skunk being in the Indian tongue simply she-kaug. In order
to make Chi-cag-Oy the theory adopted is that ong^ an Ojibway
local termination is added, which makes Chi-cag-ong^ meaning
at the skunk^ the sound of ng being dropped in common
speech, leaving the word in the form now used. Whilst this
is not inconsistent in practice in dealing with Indian names,
there is another theory, it is suggested, which may be adopted
in this connection that would seem to be equally consistent.
The word Chi-ca-go^ without adding ng^ would be a fair Ojib-
way expression. The sound of o added would denote the
genitive, and might be rendered thus, him. of the skunk^ in
which case it would probably be the name of an individual,
and it is stated that this word is the name not only of some
one Indian chief, but the name also of a line of chiefs during
several generations. It is to be remarked, however, that there
are some facts in history in regard to this word not in har-
mony with the definition generally contended for, as before
stated. The word is first mentioned in early western history
by Hennepin, in his account of La Salle's expedition which
he accompanied, chapter 34 (London edition, 1699), the head-
ing of which is as follows: " An account of the building of a
new fort on the river of the Illinois, named by the savages
Che-cau-goUy and by us If'ori CrevecodurP This was in Janu-
ary, 1680.. This fort was at or near the place where Peoria
in this state now stands. tVe must believe that the Indian
word mentioned, given by the savages as their name for this
fort, could not in this connection mean skunk nor skunk-
weed. The definition of the French word mentioned would

INDIAJr NAMES IN ILLINOIS. 97

mean " broken heart." Hennepin remarks that the many dif-
ficulties they labored under had almost broken their hearts.
May we not therefore suppose that the Indian word thus ap-
plied was intended to be of similar import? The name Che-
ka-gou thereafter appears on a map by Franquelin in 1684,
applied to a river putting into the Des Plaines from the east
at a point just above the Kankakee river, while at the head of
Lake Michigan on this map is the work Checago umeinan.
At a latter date what is now called the Desplaines river was
called by the early French explorers the river Chekagou. This
word as a local name did not, as would appear, reach the river
at present so named^ nor the point where Chicago now is, until
at least thirty years after the time of Hennepin, as before
mentioned, and of the circumstances under which this word
was lastly so applied, from what dialect it came, or what its
intended meaning was, if any, in its changed application, no
account whatever is transmitted to us. The most that can be
£aid of the word with any degree of certainty is that it is of
Indian origin, and comes from some dialect of the Algonquin
^roup, so called. It must be noted, however, that in the Ojib-
way dialect this word, or that which is essentially the same, is
not confined in its meaning to that contended for, as before
mentioned. The word may mean also in that language to
J^orheaVy or avoids from Tcdh-go^ forbear^ and che^ a prefix an-
swering to our preposition to^ or it may mean something great^
from ha-go^ something^ and chi^ from git-che, great. Besides
several other words or expressions which may be found in this
dialect of the same sound, yet of different meanings, Che-ca-
gua was the name of a noted Sac chief, and means, in that
dialect, he that stands by the tree In the Pottawattomie dia-
lect the word choe-ca-go^ without addition or abridgement,
means destitute. Now, if this word was applied to the river
which at present bears this name from the local circumstance
as claimed, that of the abundance of skunk-weed upon its
banks, it would seem to follow that it must have been so given

98 INDIAN NAMES IN ILLINOIS.

by the tribe who then inhabited or dwelt in the vicinity. At
the time this word first appeared in this locality, the country
about was inhabited, we are informed, by the tribe of Miamis
in whose dialect the word for sJcunJc or pole-cat was se-Jcaw-
Jcwaw. The Miamis, it seems, were succeeded by the Potta-
wattomies. We have no account from any source that the
Ojibway nation, from whose dialect the attempt is made to
define the meaning of this word, ever inhabited this part of
the country. Mr. Hurlbut, in his book of Chicago Antiqui-
ties, refers to an article in Potter's American Monthly^
wherein it is stated that in early days this place was called
" Tuck Chicago," and in which it is said that ''Tuck in the
Indian dialect means wood or timber ;^^ that the word Chicago
means ^'gone^ absent^ or without f^ that the words Tuck Chicago
signified the waste prairie, or, literally translated, wood gone.
The Indian, dialect referred to, it is understood, has reference
to that of the Pottawattomies. It is true that there was
originally considerable tree growth along the river, particu-
larly on the north side, at what we now call Chicago, but it
was in the main a naked prairie, which would make the name
" Tuck Chicago " (wood gone) in the Pottawattomie dialect
worthy of consideration among the various other speculations
cited from their respective authorities. It will be observed
that each of the theories adduced in this article has its author-
ity, and from them all the antiquarian may form his opinion
as to the origin of the name of the city in question.

Geneseo {Gen-nis-he- yo) — Irq. — A town in Illinois. Bea/u-
tiful Valley, The name of a river in New York, so named
by the Iroquois from the beautiful valley this river passes
through.

Iroquois. — The name of a river and county in Illinois.
The word is derived from the name given by the French
to the Five Nations of Indians about Lake Ontario. The
first negotiations of the French in settling the country along
the Kiver St. Lawrence were with the natives in the vicinity

IHDIAN NAMES IN ILLINOIS. 99

known as the Five Nations and the Hurons or Wyan-
dottes, so called, all speaking the same generic language.
It was noticed that these tribes in thei-- councils always
closed their speeches with the word or exclamation *' Hiro!"
like dixi of the Latin. They also used on public or other
occasions, when circumstances seemed to demand it, an ex-
clamation or word, " Kouai," as an expression of warning,
something in the sense we would use the word "Beware!"
The frequent use of these words or exclamations, from the cir-
cumstances attending, seemed to have attracted the special
attention of the French, so that in speaking of them, or in
giving them a designation, they spoke of them as the Hiro-
Kouai^ or, in the French orthography, Hiro-Quois^ which in
time passed into the present word, Iroquois^ by simply drop-
ping the sound of H in common speech.

Illinois. — From the Algonquin word inini, or illini^ "man,''
and French adjective termination oia. The French substituted
I for n. From tradition, it was intended to mean or have ref-
erence to a perfect man^ as distinguished from the Iroquois
nation, who were considered by the western tribes as beasts.
Marquette, in descending the Mississippi, touched on the west
bank of that river at a place near the mouth of the Des
Moines, where he found marks of inhabitants, which he pur-
sued westward a few miles, when he arrived at an Indian village,
where he was received with demonstrations of great friendship.
He communicated with the inhabitants, it would appear, in the
Algonquin language, but as their dialect diifered from that of
any of the tribes he had before met with, he asked the chief
who received him who they were. He answered in the Al-
gonquin language, "We are men^'* as distinguished from the
Iroquois, whom they looked upon as beasts in consequence of
their cruel conduct in their invasions upon the western tribes.
Hence the term Ini/nij " man," or as the French rendered it,
mini. Thereafter the tribes of this vicinity became known
among the French as Illinese or Illinois,

100 INDIAN NAMES IN ILLINOIS.

Kewanee. — Alg, — A town in Illinois. Pravrie hen.

KicKAPoo. — Alg, — A town in Illinois. The name of one
of the Algonquin tribes of the west, jestingly applied by
others of the same stock. From Negik-aboa — cm otter^a ap-
parition — ghost of an otter,

KiSHWAUKE. — Alg, — A river in Illinois. Place of sycamore
trees.

Moccasin. — Alg, — A town in Illinois. A shoe.

Manito. — Alg. — ^A town in Illinois. Spvrit. By the early
French travelers, Manitou.

Mascoutah. — Alg. — A town in Illinois. From rruiscoda^
" prairie."

MoAWEQUA. — Alg, — ^A town in Illinois. Weeping woman;
she that weeps,

MoKENA (Mok-e-Twa^) — Alg, — A town in Illinois. Turtle,

Neoga. — Irq, — A town in Illinois. Place of the Great Spirit,

NoKOMis. — Alg, — A town in Illinois. Grandmother,

NuNDA. — Irq, — A town in Illinois. Hills,

Osage. — Alg, — A town in Illinois. Miami dialect. The
Neutral. The name of a tribe of Indians.

Oquaka. — Alg, — Sac dialect. A town in Illinois. Yellowea/rth.

OswEGK) (O'Sweh-go) — Irq. — A town in Illinois. Flowing
out. This name was given by the Iroquois to the place at the
mouth of the river, since called by that name, in the state of
New York.

Ottawa. — Alg. — A town in Illinois. Trader. Naine of a
tribe of Indians whom the French designated as the traders.

Peotone (Pe-tone) — Alg. — A town in Illinois. JSring —
bring here.

SoMONAUK (FS'Sem-in-auk) — Alg, — ^A town in Illinois.
Paw Paw tree,

ToNicA. — Alg, — A town in Illinois. A place inhabited, '

Tuscola. — Apl, — A town in Illinois. A level plain.

Wapella. — Alg, — A town in Illinois. From an Indian
chief of the Fox tribe. He who is painted white.

INDIAN NAMES IN ILLINOIS. 101

Waukegan {^WaU'kt-e-gan) — Al{f. — A town in Illinois. A
KouBe^ or fort, .The place where this town is situated was
originally called Little Fort, It seems to have been a French
trading p^ st of minor importance — probably established about
the year 1720, or at some time in the early part of that cen-
tury. The occasion of selecting this point as a post seems to
have been two-fold. It was in the vicinity of excellent hunt-
ing and trapping grounds, especially the latter, and was found
to be the nearest point of any for reaching the Desplaines
river from Lake Michigan, where in a good stage of water a
short, easy portage could be made on the route to the Illinois
and Mississippi rivers, saving about forty miles of lake coast,
necessary in going by way of Chicago. It was continued as
a French post until probably about 1760. After the English
succeeded to the country the point became known as 7%e
Little Forty and the town subsequently built up here took that
name. Judge Blodgett, now of the United States Court, be-
coming a resident of the place, and having a fancy for Indian
names, suggested that the name* of Little Fort be changed by
substituting an Indian name signifying the same thing. The
diminutive of nouns in the Algonquin language is formed by
adding the syllable anse, so that Little Fort in that language
would be Wau-hi-e-ganse; but for the purposes of euphony
the name adopted was Waukegan^ which would signify simply
Fort or House, Although the pronunciation is not precisely
the same as the Indian word intended, yet it is nearer to that
intended than the so-called Indian names generally are. The
Indians designated a fort or dwelling of the white man by the
same name. The original dwellings of the whites among them
were buildings for trading posts, built in a style for protection,
and were called forts by the French.

Wauconda. — Dak, — A town in Illinois. The Good Spirit.

WiNETKA. — Alg, — A town in Illinois. A beautiful place,

Wyanet. — Alg, — A town in Illinois. BeoAitiful.

102 CLASSIFICATION.

CaaAPTER XL

INDIAN TRIBES OF ILLINOIS.

TAKEN FBOM HISTORIC KOTES OF THE NOBTHWEST

BT H. W. BECKWITU.

The Miamis, Illinois, Winnebagos, Sacs and Foxes, Kicka-
poos, Fottawattomies, and Shawneese, are the names of the
native tribes who have occupied the soil of Illinois within the
historic period of the state.

The Winnebagos were of the Sionx stock; all the others
were of the Algonquin, their language being similar. The
Iroquois were essentially different in their language as well as
in their public policy, being more aggressive and less suscep-
tible to religious teaching, but perhaps more progressive in
civilization. Between them and the tribes of Illinois there was
from the first an enmity, which became augmented by the
rival interests of the French of Canada and the English colo-
nists along the Hudson river. The Iroquois, who held all the
territory between the Hudson river and Lake Erie, were im-
portant factors in the hands of the English wherewith to
secure the western fur trade, while the French of Canada had
advanced up the lakes to secure not only the fur trade, but the
country itself as a province of France.

The Sioux or Dakotas west of the Mississippi were an-
other classification of tribes, and may be set down as the most
heroic of all, they never having been conquered on the field of
battle by either other native tribes or even by the armies of
the United States, as the fate of Custer's army in 1879 gives
melancholy experience.

ILLINOIS TBIBES.

The Illiaois Indiana were composed of fire snbdiTisions:
Easkaski&B, Cahokia^, Tamaroae, Peorias and Metcbigamis,
the last being a foreign tribe from weBt of the MiBsisBippi
river, who having been reduced to small numberB bj wars with

MAP

BHOWIKC TSE

INDIAN TKIBES

104: ILLINOIS TSIBES.

their neighbors, abandoned their former hunting grounds and
became incorporated with the Illinois. The first historical
mention of the Illinois is found in the " Jesuit Relations for
the year 1670-1," prepared by Father Claude Dablon, from
the letters of priests stationed at La Pointe, Lake Superior,
where the French had a trading post. Says the Father: " The
first who came to the Pointe of the Holy Ghost (meaning the
Mission) for commerce called themselves Illinois." In the
" Jesuit Relations," and in the writings of other French
authors, the name Illinois is variously spelled as " Illi-mouek,"
" lU-i-no-u-es," " Ill-i-ne-wek," " AUini-wek," and " Lin-i-
wek." The terminations ouea^ wekj ois^ and ov^k were almost
identical in pronunciation. Lewis Evans, the great geogra-
pher in colonial days, spelled the name Will-i-nis. Major
Thomas Forsyth, for many years trader and Indian agent in
the Illinois Territory, and stationed at the French village of
Peoria, says the " Illinois confederation call themselves Linni-
wek, and by others they were called Min-ne-way." Both Mar-
quette and Hennepin spelled the name Illinois as we do now.

The Illinois confederation claimed the country bounded on
the east by the ridge that divides the waters flowing into the
Illinois from those flowing into the Wabash, between the
headwaters of Saline creek and a point as far north on the
Illinois as the Desplaines, reaching northward to the debatable
ground between themselves, the Winnebagos, the Sacs and
Foxes, and the Kickapoos, and extending westward of the Mis-
sissippi. Their favorite and most populous villages were upon
the Illinois, the Desplaines and the Kankakee, but the Sioux
(Da-ko-ta) pressed them from the west, the Sacs and Foxes
and Kickapoos, confederates, encroached upon their territory
from the north, while war parties of the Iroquois, coming
from the east, rapidly decimated their numbers. These de-
structive raids were doing their fatal work, and the power of
the Illinois was waning when the French first came in contact
with them.

ILLINOIS TRIBES. 105

The building of Fort St. Louis upon the heights of Starved
Eock by La Salle, in 1682, gave confidence to the Illinois and
their scattered remnants who had again returned to their
favorite village. They were followed by bands of Weas, Pi-
an-ke-shas, and Mi-am-ies, near kinsmen of the Illinois, and
by the Shawnees and other tribes of remoter affinity, and soon
a cordon of populous towns arose about the fort. The mili-
tary forces of these villages at the colony of La Salle, in 1684,
was estimated at 3,680 fighting men, the Illinois furnishing
more than one-third of this number. Thus were the Iroquois
barred out of the country of the Illinois, who, for a season,
enjoyed a respite from their old enemies. The abandonment
of Fort St. Louis as a military post, in 1702, was followed by
a dispersion of the tribes and fragments of tribes, except at
the Illinois village, where a straggling population retained
possession. The Kaskaskias learning, in the year 1700, that
France was making a military establishment and colony near
the mouth of the Mississippi, started thither. They were
intercepted on the way, and persuaded to halt above the mouth
of the Ohio, and soon thereafter made themselves a permanent
home on the banks of a stream which since then has borne
their name, the Kaskaskia.

The Iroquois came no more, having war enough on their
hands nearer home, but the Illinois were constantly harrassed
by other enemies, the Sacs and Foxes, the Kickapoos, and the
Pottawattomies. Their villages at Starved Kock and at Peoria
Lake were besieged by the Foxes in 1722, and a detachment
of 100 men, commanded by Chevalier d'Artaguiette and
Sieur de Tisne, was sent from Fort Chartres to their assist-
ance. The Foxes having lost more than a hundred of their
men, abandoned the siege before the reinforcements arrived.
"This success (says Charlevoix, the great French historian)
did not, however, prevent the Illinois, although they had lost
only twenty men, with some children, from leaving the Rock
and Pim-i-toey (Peoria Lake), where they were kept in con-

106 MIAMIS.

stant alarm, and proceeding to unite with those of their
brethem (the Kaskaskias) who had settled npon the Missis-
sippi. This was a stroke of grace for most of them, the small
number of missionaries preventing their supplying so many
towns scattered far apart; but, on the other side, as there was
nothing to check the raids of the Foxes along the Illinois
river, communication between Louisiana and New France
(Canada) became much less practicable."

The next fifteen years show a further decline in their num-
bers. In an enumeration of the Indian tribes connected with
the government of Canada, prepared in the year 1736, the
name, location, and number of fighting men of the Illinois
are set down as follows: " Mitchigamias, near Fort Chartres,
260; Kaskaskies, six leagues below, 100; Peorias, 60; the
Cahokias and Tamarois, 200 ;" making a total of 600. The
killing of Pontiac, some thirty years later, at Cahokia, whither
he had retired after the failure of his bold efforts to rescue the
country from the British, was laid upon the Illinois, a charge
which, whether true or false, hastened their destruction. In
an official letter to the secretary of war, of date March 22,
1814, General Wm. H. Harrison says: "When I was first
appointed governor of the Indiana Territory (May, 1800), these
once powerful tribes were reduced to about 30 warriors, of
whom 26 were Kaskaskias, 4 Peorias, and a single Mitchi-
gamian. A furious war between them and the Sacs and Kick-
apoos reduced them to that miserable remnant which had taken
refuge among the white people in the towns of Kaskaskiaand
St. Geniveve." Since 1800, by successive treaties, they ceded
their lands to the United States, and were removed to reser-
vations lying southwest of Kansas City, where, in 1872, they
had dwindled to 40 persons, men, women and children, all told.

THE MIAMIS.

This tribe formerly lived beyond the Mississippi river,
whence their progress eastwardly was through Wisconsin and

MIAMI8. 107

Blinois, and around the southern extremity of Lake Michi-
gan to Detroit, thence down the Detroit river and up the
Maumee through Indiana into Ohio. That they originally
sprang from the same stock as the Illinois is the opinion of
the early writers on the subject, and General Harrison, even
at his late historic date says: <^ Although the language, names
and customs of the Kaskaskias make it sufficiently certain
that they derive their origin from the same source with the
Miamis, the connection had been dissolved before the French
had penetrated to the Mississippi.

The Miami confederation was subdivided into four princi-
pal bands, since known under the name of Miamis, Eel-Rivers,
Weas, and Pian^eshaws. The Miamis proper have by differ-
ent writers been called *' Ou-mi-a-mi," '^ Ou-mi-am-wek,"
" Mau-mees," " Au-mi-am-i " (which has been contracted to
« Au-mi " and to " 0-mee "), and " Min-e-am-i." The Weas,
whose name more properly is " We-we-hah," is called " 8y-a-
ta-nous," " Oui-at-a-nons," and " Ou-i-as " by the French, and
in whose orthography the " 8y " and " Ou " are equivalent in
sound nearly to the letter of the English W. The British and
colonial officers and traders spelled the word " Oui-ca-ta-non,"
" Way-ough-ta-nies," *' Waw-i-ach-tens," and " "We-hahs."
The name Piankeshaws, in early accounts, figure as " Pou-an-
ke-ki-as," " Pe-an-gui-chias," " Pi-an-gui-shaws," " Py-an-ke-
shaws," and ^' Pi-an-qui-shaws.'^ The Miami tribes were
known to the Iroquois of New York as the Twigh-twees, a
name generally used by the British as well as by the Ameri-
can colonists when referring to any of the Miami tribes.

In the year 1684, at La Salle's colony at Starved Eock, the
Miamis had populous villages, where the Miamis proper
counted 1,300, the "Weas 500, and the Piankeshaw band 160.
At a later day, 1718, the Weas had a village " at Chicago, but
being afraid of the canoe people (the Ohippeways and Potta-
wattomies), left it, and passing around the head of Lake Michi-
gan to be nearer their brethren farther to the east." Father

108

Charlevoix, writing from this vicinity, in 1721, says: " Fifty
years ago the Miamis (i..e, the "Wea band) were settled on the
southern extremity of Lake Hichigan, in a place called Chi-
cago, from the name of a small river which runs into the lake,

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POTTAWATTOMIE8. 109

the Bource of which is not far distant from that of the river of
the Illinois (meaning the Desplaines, which is the name by
which it was often called in French authorities)."

The country of the Miamis extended west to the watersned
between the Illinois and Wabash rivers, which separated their
possessions from those of their brethren, the Illinois. On the
north were the Pottawattomies, who were slowly but persist-
ently pushing their line southward through Wisconsin and
around the west shore of Lake Michigan.

It was only the Piankeshaw band of the Miamis that occu-
pied portions of Illinois subsequent to the dispersion of La
Salle's colony about Starved Rock. The principal villages of the
latter were upon the Vermilion river and at Vincennes, Ind., and
its environs. Their territory extended eastward to the Ohio
river and westward to the ridge that divides the waters flowing
respectively into the Kaskaskia and the Wabash. They were
found by French officers in populous towns upon the Vermilion
as early as 1718; later they pushed the degenerating Illinois
bands to the vicinity of Kaskaskia and neighboring villages,
and hunted and dominated over the territory to the Mississippi,
as high up, nearly, as the mouth of the Illinois.

THE POTTAWATTOMIES.

The first mention of this tribe is in the " Jesuit Relation "
of 1639. They were then reported on the north bank ot
Lake Huron. Twenty-six years later they were reported on
the west bank of Lake Michigan. In 1674 they were at Green
Bay, and assisted Father Marquette on his way from the mis-
sion of St. Francis Xavier at that place to the "Chicagou" port-
age. Subsequently we find them in great force in the vicinity
of Mackinaw, whence they made large portions of Michigan
and also Wisconsin their hunting grounds. Later they took
possession of the country around Chicago, and also the im-
mense plains lying in Illinois west of the Wabash river. It
was during this period that they made the attack on the troops

110

POTTAWATTOMIKS.

who liad evacuated Fort Dearborn iu 1812, as told iu fore-
going pages. Thej were the last native tribe to take their
departure from Illinois, lingering around Chicago till 1835, at
which time they were removed west by Colonel J. B. F. Rub-

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SACS AND FOXBS. Ill

sell, as per the provisions of a treaty held with them in Chicago
Septemlrer 26th, 1833. They are now in the Indian Territory,
many of them being wealthy farmers. Their youth are edu-
cated at good schools, and are ambitious to rise in the world.

THE SACS AND FOXES.

According to Monette this tribe was early located on the
Detroit river, whence they were driven to Green Bay. From
the latter place they went to the Mississippi river and occu-
pied the territory on both sides of it above the^mouth of Rock
river soon after the year 1700. In foregoing pages a brief
sketch of their history has been given as a record of the Sauk
war during Governor Reynolds' administration.

THE WINNEBAGOS AND SHAWNEES.

Both of these tribes have occupied small portions of Illi-
nois for a few years. Their history is unimportant in connec-
tion with that of Illinois.

THE KICKAPOOS.

The records of tliis tribe run back to the first occupation of
the St. Lawrence valley by the French, Champlain having
come in contact with them on the banks of Lake Huron on
his route of discovery. From that early date ever since they
have been an untractable tribe, forming no lasting alliance
with the French like many other tribes. They came to the
Rock river prior to 1718, says Charlevoix, and in 1766 had
occupied the large portions of the state shown on the map of
the Indian tribes of the same date. In 1812 their hunting
grounds had diminished but little in size, but had moved so
as to occupy the extreme southeastern portions of the state.
They ceded all their lands in Illinois to the United States by
a treaty held at Edwardsville in 1819. Many of them had
gone westward soon after the war of 1812, and after this
treaty the remnant left. They are still a brave people, hang-
ing about the Mexican border, but greatly reduced in numbers.

112 FRENCH OCCUPATION.

CHAPTEK Xn.

, SETTLEMENT OF ILLINOIS.

BY J. OIIiliESPIE.

It is difficult to draw a distinct line of demarcation between
the different epochs, that is the French, the Pioneer, and the
permanent settler's. They nan into each other and become to
a considerable extent blended, still in order to present a record
of the early history of this state, they must be regarded as
distinct eras. The object of the settlement of the French here
was two-fold, one was, to extend the theatre of church opera-
tions, the other was for commercial purposes. The first ad-
venturers were Ecclesiastical dignitaries, and they located
missions wherever they went, Kaskaskia was the centre of
their field in this region. Afterward the government of affairs
was placed under Crozat and the Company of the Indies — ^to
subserve the commercial purposes. The people who were sent
out were used as auxiliaries to these ends. They were located
in villages to which were attached common fields of several
miles extent, and each settler had his strip or arpent of land for
cultivation which was somewhat like a mathematical line, all
lengtli and no breadth. The residences of these settlers were
clustered in the village within sound of the church bell or the
violin of the musician. When these communities became over-
crowded a new colony was established similar to the first, and
fio on. The control of affairs was entirely in the hands of the
ecclesiastics. All marriages were authorized and solemnized by
them. All entrances into, and exits from this world were
under their peculiar supervision. Conveyances of property

B00LB8IASTI0AL BULB. 113

and settlements of controversies, were noted by and effected
through their instrumentality. Grants of land and the regu-
lations for their subdivision were ostensibly made by the King
of France. But the real power was in the hands of the priest-
hood, but it seems to have been exercised by them with scru-
pulous regard to justice and to the satisfaction of the people.
These people through the influence of the church and their
natural amiability were kept on good terms with the Abori-
gines. They had no araibition to found an empire, but were
willing to live and die as Frenchmen in the service of their
religious teachers. They had no desire for change. The
country afforded them all they needed in the way of subsist-
ence, and their civil and religious government was all they
desired, but their hearts were in la belle France. The French
colonies were mere municipalities, and they did not consider
themselves as Americans, but as Frenchmen residing on this
side of the Atlantic. This was the first stage of European
settlement in the valley of the Mississippi. In 1763, the
French possessions were ceded to England, but at that time no
attempt had been made to establish English settlements on the
great river. During the revolutionary war, the expedition of
Gen. George Rogers Clark was fitted out by Virginia and
succeeded in wresting these French settlements from England.
The conquest of the country, so far as the French people were
concerned, was an easy task. The English military com-
mandants had made themselves exceedingly obnoxious, and
any change was looked upon by the people as for the better.
It is true a considerable number of the French crossed the
river into Spanish territory and settled in St. Genevieve, Co-
rondolet and St. Louis. The government of Virginia could
not pay her troops in money and she provided that the soldiers
under- Clark should each be entitled to a tract of land in the
conquered country in payment for their services. The country
being rich beyond anything they had ever thought of, most of
them settled here upon their lands, and they were followed by

114 THE AMERICAN 8ETTLEB.

their acqaaintances who likewise settled in the country. The
troops under Clark, although in the service of Virginia, were
nevertheless gathered up about the Falls of the Ohio where
Louisville now stands, and were composed of Virginians,
Kentuckians, Tennesseans, iJorth and South Carolinians, and
the people who followed them were from those states. These
people differed toto ceolo from the French. They considered
themselves as Americans, and hardly knew that they were de-
scended from English stock. They were Indian haters and
Indian fighters, and had fewer compunctions of conscience for
killing an Indian than they would have for killing a wolf.
They were not contented with a narrow strip of land in a
common field like the Frenchman. Nothing less than a big
farm isolated from neighbors would suit them. They cared
nothing for the protection or company that villages afforded,
each man generally depended upon himself and his trusty rifle
for protection. It is true they assembled in squads to pursue
Indian marauders, but generally they lived in solitude, except
their families; they possessed greater individuality than any
people on earth. These American settlers recognized no au-
thority but that of law, and if they were beyond its reach they
made it for the occasion. They had their regulating societies
for punishing law breakers, before whom every offender was
brought and duly charged, and no man was punished without
having an opportunity of being confronted with the witnesses
against him, and presenting his defense, if he had any. Gen-
erally he had a patient hearing and an impartial decision.
These people had no priests, like the French to expound the
laws, they were natural government makers. Any one of them
might be called upon to preside over the deliberations of one
of these regulating companies. As soon as government was ex-
tended over them they settled down into law-abiding citizens.
In 1783, Virginia ceded her rights in the northwestern terri-
tory to the United States, stipulating for the preservation of
the rights of the old French inhabitants, and of her soldiera

LAND TITLB8. 115

under Clark, which the government scrupulously carried out
and for the purpose of inviting settlers an act of congress was
passed giving to heads of families, who should settle in the
country and reside a certain length of time, a tract of land.
When the country was surveyed there were three classes of
titles to lands, the location of which was not accurately known
to-wit: the old French claims, then the military rights under
the Virginia regime, and lastly head rights under the
act of congress. The government of the United States after
the survey of the lands directed the land officers at Kaskaskia
to take proof and make report as to the location of the above
claims, and they appear as claims and surveys in our records
as confirmed by congress to the settlers or their assignees, and
are principally situated in the counties of Madison, St. Clair,
Monroe, Randolph and Peoria. The early American emi-
grants located generally in the neighborhood of the French
settlements which extended along the river from Kaskaskia to
Cahokia, and the big mound in Madison. The southern part
of Illinois was first settled by the Americans, as the current
set in from the southwestern states. People generally emi-
grate upon the parallel of latitude in which they are raised as
nearly as practicable. The emigration from the slave states
extended about as far north as the latitude of Springfield, the
wealthier going north and the poorer keeping down south.
The Americans I have been speaking of I would class as the
Pioneers, although a Jarge majority of them became perma-
nent settlers. A great many of these people left the south to
get rid of slavery, but many favored the institution and wished
to see it introduced here. The state could not be admitted
into the Union with a constitution repugnant to the ordinance
of 1787, which forever prohibited it in the northwestern terri-
tory, but many believed that after the admission the constitu-
tion could be changed and slavery admitted, and as the settlers
were mostly from the south it was thought a majority would
favor it. In 1823, a terrific effort was made to adopt a slavery

116 Alirn-SLAVEBY ISSUE.

constitution, but it was signally defeated by southern people.
Here, in 1823, the great battle of slavery was fought and won
by people from the slave states. If Illinois had then enlisted
under the pro-slavery banner Indiana would have followed suit,
and these two states (or even Illinois) on the side of the south
at the breaking out of the rebellion would have made the
result, to say the least of it, doubtful. All honor to the men
who defeated slavery here in 1823. They builded more wisely
than they knew. About 1830 the current of emigration began
to set in from the northern states to northern Illinois. Since
then the history is known to all men, and I need say nothing
about it. I have endeavored to distinguish the epochs in the
history of our state into the French, the Pioneer, and the
permanent — three distinct eras especially as to social condi-
tions which may with no impropriety be called the childhood,
the youth, and the manhood of our state.

LBOISLATUBES. 117

LEGISLATURES OF ILLINOIS.

First Territorial Legislature, 1812. Conyened at Easkaskia the 26th day
of November, A. D. 1812 ; adjourned the 26th day of December, 1812.
Second session convened and adjourned November 8, A. D. 1813.

Second Territorial Legislature, 1814. First session convened at Easkaskia
the 14th day of November, A. D. 1814 ; adjourned December 24, A D. 1814.

Second Territorial Legislature, 1815. Second session convened pursu-
ant to adjournment the 4th day of December, A. D. 1815 ; adjourned Janu-
ary 11, A. D. 1816.

Third Territorial Legislature, 1816-17. First session convened at Easkas-
kia the 2d day of December, A, D. 1816 ; adjourned January 14, A. D. 1817.

Third Territorial Legislature, 1817-18. Second session convened at Easkas-
kia the 1st day of December, A. D. 1817 ; adjourned January 12, A. D. 1818,

First General Assembly, 1818-20. First session convened at Easkaskia
October 5, 1818 ; adjourned October 13, 1818. Second session convened at
Easkaskia, January 4, 1819; adjourned March 31, 1819.

Second General Assembly, 1820-22. Convened at Yandalia December 4
1820 ; adjourned February 15, 1821.

Third General Assembly, 1822-24. Convened at Yandalia December 2,
1822 ; adjourned February 18, 1823.

Fourth General Assembly, 1824-26. First session convened at Yandalia
November 15, 1824 ; adjourned January 18, 1825. Second session convened
at Yandalia January 2, 1826 ; adjourned January 28, 1826.

Fifth General Assembly, 1826-28. Convened at Yandalia December 4,
1826 ; adjourned February 19, 1827.

Sixth General Assembly, 1828-30. Convened at Yandalia December 1,
1828 ; adjourned January 23, 1829.

Seventh General Assembly, 1830-32. Convened at Yandalia December 6,
1830; adjourned February 16, 1831.

Eighth General Assembly, 1832-34. Convened at Yandalia December 3,
1832 ; adjourned March 2, 1833.

Ninth General Assembly, 1834-36. First session convened at Yandalia
December 1, 1834 ; adjourned February 13, 1835. Second session convened
at Yandalia December 7, 1835 ; adjourned January 18, 1836.

118 LEGISLATUBES.

Tenth General Assembly, 1886-38. First session convened at Vandalia
December 5, 1836 ; adjourned March 6, 1837. Second session convened at
VandaUa July 10, 1837 : adjourned July 22, 1837.

Eleventh (General Assembly, 1838-40. First session convened at Van-
dalia December 3, 1838 ; adjourned March 4, 1889. Second session con-
vened at Springfield December 9, 1889 ; adjourned February 3, 1840.

Twelfth (General Assembly, 1840-42. First session convened at Spring-
field November 23, 1840 ; adjourned December 5, 1840. Second session
convened December 7, 1840 ; adjourned March 1. 1841.

Thirteenth General Assembly, 1842-44. Convened at Springfield Decem-
ber 5, 1842 ; adioumed March 6. 1843.

Fourteenth General Assembly, 1844r-46. Convened at Springfield Decem-
ber 2, 1844 ; adj6umed March 3, 1845.

Fifteenth General Assembly, 1846-48. Convened at Springfield Decem-
ber 7, 1846 ; adjourned March 1, 1847.

Sixteenth General Assembly, 1848-50. First session convened at Spring-
field January 1, 1849 ; adjourned February 12, 1849. Second session con-
vened October 22, 1849 ; adjourned November 7, 1849.

Seventeenth General Assembly, 1850-52. First session convened at
Springfield January 6, 1851 ; adjourned February 17, 1851. Second session
convened Jime 7, 1852 ; adjourned June 23, 1852.

Eighteenth General Assembly, 1852-54. First session convened at Spring-
field January 3, 1853 ; adjourned February 14, 1853. Second session con-
vened February 9, 1854 ; adjourned March 4, 1854.

Nineteenth General Assembly, 1854-56. Convened at Springfield January
1, 1855 ; adjourned February 15, 1855.

Twentieth General Assembly, 1856-58. Convened at Springfield January
6, 1857 ; adjourned February 19, 1857.

Twenty-first General Assembly, 1858-60. Convened at Springfield Janu-
ary 3, 1859 ; adjourned February 24, 2859

Twenty-second General Assembly, 1860-62. First session convened at
Springfield January 7, 1862 ; adjourned February 22, 1861. Second session
convened April 23, 1861 ; adjourned May 3, 1861.

Twenty-third General Assembly, 1862-64. Convened at Springfield Janu-
ary 5, 1863 ; adjourned February 14, 1863, till June 2, 1863 ; prorogued by
the Governor June 10, 2863, until December 31, 1864 ; convened and ad-
journed December 31, 1864.

Twenty-fourth General Assembly, 1864-66. Convened at Springfield
January 2, 1865 ; adjourned February 16, 1865.

Twenty-fifth General Assembly, 1866-68. First session convened at
Springfield January 7, 1867 ; adjourned February 28, 1867. Second session
convened June 11, 1867 ; adjourned June 13, 1867. Third session convened
June 14, 1867 ; adjourned June 28, 1867.

LEOISLATUBES. 119

Twenty-sixth General Assembly, 1868-70. Conyened at Springfield Janu-
ary 4, 1869 ; adjourned April 20, 1869.

Twenty-seventh General Assembly, 1870-72. First session convened at
Springfield January 4, 1871 ; adjourned April 17, 1871, until November 15,
1871. First special session convened May 24, 1871 ; adjourned June 22,
1871. Second special session convened October 18, 1871 ; adjourned Octo-
ber 24, 1871. Convened in regular adjourned session November 15, 1871 ;
adjourned sine die April 9, 1872.

Twenty-eighth General Assembly, 1872-74. First session convened at
Springfield January 8, 1873; adjourned May 6, 1873, until January 8, 1874.
Convened in adjourned session Januaiy 8, 1874 ; adjourned Hne die March .
31, 1874

Twenty-ninth General Assembly, 1874-76. Convened at Springfield
January 6, 1875 ; adjourned sine die April 15, 1875.

Thirtieth General Assembly, 1876-78. Convened at Springfield Januaiy
8, 1877 ; adjourned May 24, 1877. .

Thirty-first General Assembly, 1878-^. Convened at Springfield Januaiy
8, 1879 ; adjourned May 81, 1879.

Thirty-second General Assembly, 1880-62. Regular session convened at
Springfield January 5, 1881 ; adjourned May 80, 1881. Special session con-
vened at Springfield March 28, 1882 ; adjourned May 9, 1882.

Thirty-third General Assembly, 1882-^. Convened at Springfield Janu-
ary 8, 1888.

TEBBTTORIAL BEPBESENTATIVES.

Shadrach Bond was the first delegate to Congress from the territory, serv-
ing in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Congresses. He took his seat at the
second session of the Twelfth Congress, December 3, 1812, and served until
October 3, 1814, when he was appointed Receiver of Public Moneys. Resi-
dence, Easkaskia.

Benjamin Stephenson succeeded Bond, and took his seat at the third ses-
sion of the Thirteenth Congress, November 14, 1814, and served during the
third session of the Thirteenth and first session of the Fourteenth Con-
gresses, when he was also appointed Receiver of Public Moneys April 29,
1816. Residence, Edwardsville

Nathaniel Pope was elected the successor of Benjamin Stephenson, and
entered Congress at the second session of the Fourteenth Congress, Decem-
ber 2, 1816, and served during that session and the first session of the Fif-
teenth Congress — he being the delegate at the time of the admission of the
territory as a state. Residence, Easkaskia.

UNITED STATES 8BNAT0B8.

SENATORS.

Name.

Tetm^f

Remarks.

isis-ia:;;:;

BavldJ. Baker- [

[K&fkoakla...

A5j.cm»db,ao..Edwani.-..a

ceed

Ellas Kent Kane. ..

183I-S5

His DwD Buooessor. Died Deceiub

erw.

Vnndalia

To Buceaed Young.

Jamea Sutnple

lMB-47

To auceead Sample.

fe£^.::::

OrvillBH.Browniog

Appointed by Oov. YaCes lo su
SouBlaB, April «,1B81-

need

Wm A. Richardson

I8a3-K. , ..

mei-

To succeed Logan.

Each state, whethsT large or small,
Senate by two SeaatorB, to tie ctosen by
term of a Senator is six years.

repreaented In tlie United States
the legislature of tlie Btfttea. The

NOTES EZFLAININO THB HAF. 121

NOTES EXPLAINING THE MAP.

The route of Marquette and Joliet is a heavy dotted line
down the Mississippi river and up the Illinois and Desplaines
rivers, thence to the " Chicagou " portage and down the west
shore of Lake Michigan, which was at that time called Lake
Illinois, after the native tribes of the country.

The route of La Salle is a heavy dotted line down the Kan-
kakee, the Illinois and the Mississippi rivers. The Illinois
river was first named the Seignelay river, after the French
colonial minister.

The old Peoria villages at the mouth of the Des Moines
river, Iowa, are connected with the Kaskaskia villages near
the bend of the Illinois river by a trail. This trail was put
on a reprint of Thevenot's map, inserted in Spark's " History
of Marquette " and Joliet's " Discoveries " as the line of their
return, but Parkman claims that it was an error, and it is now
conceded by all historians who have written on the subject
that their return was up the Illinois from its mouth, as shown
on the map herewith. But the route across the country,
though evidently not the one traveled by the discoverers, was
doubtless an old Indian path on a direct line of communica-
tion from the Mississippi to the Chicago portage.

The Kaskaskia and Detroit trail connected the two places
by an overland route soon after white settlements had begun
at each. Detroit was settled in 1701 — one year later than
Kaskaskia.

The trail of George Rogers dark from Fort Massac to
Kaskaskia marks an epoch in American history of transcend-

122 NOTES EXPLAINING THE MAP*

ent import. It passed close by the present site of Marion,
and afterwards became a well-frequented trail between Golconda
and Kaskaskia, but its route was improved by Mr. Worthen in
1821, as shown on the map. Clark's route from Kaskaskia to
Yincennes the next year, 1779, followed a path through the
country which had been traveled before most of the way, as a
connecting road between the distant French settlements at
Vincennes, made about 1710, and the French villages of Illi-
nois.

The trails centering at Darmlle show this place to have
been a great metropolis of the natives, especially in the days
of Kickapoo occupation of the country. One of these trails
was made by Gurdon S. Hubbard (a present well-known citi-
zen of Chicago), to facilitate Indian trade. Another was made
by Mr. Beckwith (an early settler at Danville) for a similar
purpose.

Oovemor Edwards* route from Camp Russell to the vicin-
ity of Peoria was the line of his invasion of the Indian
country in 1812.

The route of Hopkins^ leading from Fort Harrison, on the
Wabash, into Livingston county, was also a raid into the In-
dian country at the same date.

General Howard^ s route the next year, 1813, from Camp
Eussell up the Mississippi to the present site of Nauvoo,
thence east to the Illinois river, and up its west bank to Peoria
and Gomos village, also shows a track of invasion into the
Indian country.

The Fort Clark and Wabash trail was a well-traveled road
from the settlements of Southern Ohio and Indiana to Fort
Clark in the early day.

The Sauk trails leading from Rock Island eastwardly
through the state, was the path of the Sauks and Foxes from
their great village on the Mississippi to Maiden, in Canada, to
which place the whole tribe went every year to get their an-
nuities from the English government. Portions of it are still

NOTES EXPLAINING THE MAP 123

visible on the prairies, says Mr. C. C. P. Holden, of Chi-
cago, who has assisted the author in locating it.

James Watson WehVs line of travel from Fort Dearborn,
in 1822, to La Sallier's trading post, thence to the Mississippi,
and down it to Fort Armstrong on Eock Island, is a monu-
ment of the courage and hardihood of this young man, who
was then an officer in Fort Dearborn. He made this trip
alone, in the dead of winter, to warn the garrison against an
Indian surprise, and this saved the fort. On his return, as a
prudential measure, he took a more southern route, as shown
in the map.*

Kellogg^ s trail shows the first overland route? from • Peoria
to Galena. It was made by Mr. Kellogg, an old pioneer
settler, in 1825, and subsequently became a well-known route.

Black Hawk^s advance is a dotted line up Kock river,
which terminated in the Black Hawk war of 1832.

Scotfs army trail from Fort Dearborn to the Winnebago
village where Eock river crosses the Wisconsin line, thence
down the river to Eock Island, was the route of his army who
came to Illinois to defend the settlers from the hostile Sauks,
of whom Black Hawk was chief.

The foregoing trails show the first known lines of travel in
the state. The early roads made by the settler are shown by
two parallel lines connecting the chief towns of the early day.
The early points settled are located and dotted, making no
further explanation necessary.

The Tablet of Illinois History begins in a decade, the
first part of which was pre-historic as to Illinois. The
Tablet runs through the last part of the seventeenth cen-
tury, through the eighteenth entire, and as far as time has
advanced in the nineteenth, showing a chronological chain
of events in and allied to Illinois history subdivided into
decades.

*Mr. Webb is still living in New York, and it is from his own letters to
the writer that the above facts have been obtained.

124 NOTES EXPLAINING THE MAP.

Hie progress of settlements in Illinois is shown in a small
map in the margin, by summarizing periods of time respecting
the settlement of various localities in the state.

ITie Book is a detail of not only the historical illustrations
of the maps, but a detail of what grew out of the events thus
localized and dated. The two together are designed to bring
geography and chronology to the support of history.

IKDBZ.

125

INDEX.

Anti-Slavery Issue 59-115-116

Alexander, Gten. Milton K 65

Algonquin, meaning of name. . . 98

Alouez Claude 27

Appanoose, meaning of the name. 98
Ashkum, meanine of the name. . 98

Atkinson GeneraT. 66

Attorney General, duties of 80

Aranda, Count de 44

Auditor of State* duties of 80

Beveridge, John L., Governor. . 74

Birney, James G 68

Bissell, Wm. H., elected Gov-
ernor 71

Black Hawk defeats Taylor 56

Leaves his Villa^ 61

Returns to Illinois 61

Defeats Stillman 63

Attacks Apple River 64

Is Defeated at Bad Ax 65

Sent to Fortress Monroe 66

Restored to his Tribe 66

Black Partridge saves Mrs. Helm 53
Bond Shadradi settles in Illinois 45

First Governor 57

Boundary line between French

and English 30

Brady, General 65

British withdraw from the Lake
Country 56

Cahokia 27

Taken by Clark 41

Carlin, Thomas, elected Gov-
ernor 67

Camp Russell 55

Casey, Zadoc 60-66

Cartier, Jacques 10

Cayuga, meaning of the name. . . 93
Chebanse, meanmgof thename.. 98

Chartres Fort built 28

Seat of English Government . 36
Chemung, meaning of the name.. 98

Chicago surveyed 90

Chartered as a City 90

Great Fire at 90

Meaning of the name 98

(See Dearoom Ft. for early history.}

City Officers 82

Champlin, Samuel de 11

Clark Fort built 55

Clark, George R., takes Kas-

kaskia 89

Advances on Vincennes 42

His route in lUmois 121

Coles, Edward^ elected Governor 58
His efforts to make Illinois a

Free State 59

Commercial rivalry between

French and English. 83

Commerce of Illinois 84

Constitution of Illinois formed. . 57
Constitutional Conventions. . .70-78
Convention and adjournment of

Legislatures 117

Contmental Congress 88

Crogan, Geo 88

Taken prisoner 84

Reports to Sir Wm. Johnson. . 85

County Officers 82

Cnmmings, Colonel 65

Craig, Captain, takes Peoria. ... 54
CuUom. Shelby M., elected Gov-
ernor 74

Danville — ^Trails centering at. ..122
Dearborn Fort built 89

Massacre at 89

Rebuilt 90

Detroit besieged by Pontiac 81

General Hull sent to 51

Dongan, Governor of New York. 25
Duncan, Joseph, elected Gov- '

ernor of Illinois 66

Dunmore, Lord 87

Douglas, Stephen A 71

Earthquake of 1811 94

126

INDEX.

Edwards. Ninian, Gk)vemor of

Illinois Territorjr 48-69

Inyades the Indian country. . . 54
Elected Governor of the State. 59

His route of invasion 122

EdwardsviUe 53

English Colonies 29

English Indian Agents 38

English posssssion of Illinois. . . 31

Elections 76

Emi^ation first to Illinois 115

Executive Department 78

How constituted 79

Duties of 79

Ewing, L. D., Gtovemor 66

Fort Clark and Wabash trail 122

Prazier, Major 83

Becomes Governor of Illinois. 35

French and Indian war 30

French, Augustus C, elected

Governor - 70

French Missionaries 11

Frontenac, Governor of Canada. 11
Five Nations. (See Iroquois.)
Ford, Thomas, elected Governor. 68
Forsythe redeems Indian captives 53

Fort Creve Coeur 20

Fur trade 25

Gage, Fort 39

Gage, General, his proclamation 35

Games, General 61

General Assembly of Illinois 77

Geneseo, meaning of its name. . 98

Ghent, Negotiations at 56

Gibault, M 40

Gomas Village destroyed 59

Government, Powers of 76

Governor Clark takes Prairie du

Chien 56

Governor, Duties of. 79

Gravier, James 27

Green Bay, Mission at 12

Griffin, the 19

Hamilton, Henry surrenders Vin-

cennes to Clark 43

Hamilton, John M., Governor. . . 75
Harrison, Wm. Henry, Governor

of Indiana Territory 47

Appointed to the command of

the Northwest 53

Helm, Captain 41-42

Helm, Mrs., at the Chicago Mas-
sacre 53

Henry, James D 65

Hopkins, Gen., marches against
the Indians 53

Howard, General, his route of
invasion 122

Hull, General, sent io Detroit. . . 51
Sends orders to Fort Dearborn 52

niinois. Settlement of 45-112

Biinois Territory organized 48

Illinois, meaning of its name.... 99
Dlinois admitted in the Union. . . 67

niinois and Michigan CansJ 68

iriinois Tribes 13

Dlinois Tribes, their history 103

Immaculate Conception, mis-
sion of lft-27

Indian Department of Illinois. . 38

Indian Names of Illinois 93

Indiana Territory 47

Institutions, charitable, penal,

etc., enumerated 74

Iroquois Tribes 24r-25

Iroquois, Derivation of the
name 96

Jamestown 9

Johnson, Sir William 88

Joliet (See Marquette.)

Judicial Department 81

Easkaskia 14-27-89-40-44

Easkaskia under English rule. . . 1 12

Easkaskia and Detroit trail 121

Eellogg's trail 123

Eewanee, meaning of its name. .100

Eeokuk 60

EickapooSf their histonr Ill

Eickapoo, meaning of Ihe name. . 100
Eishwaukee, meaning of the

name 100

Eidd, Robert 45

La Barre, Governor of Canada. . 25

La Fayette in Illinois 59

Land titles, French 115

La Salle, his route of discoverv. .121
(See Griffin.)

Legislative Department 76

rowers and duties of 77

Restriction of 78

Lieutenant Governor, duties of . . 79

Lincoln, Abraham 71

Death of 73

Loftus, Major ; .. . 82

Louisiana purchased by Spain. . 84

Manito, meaning of the name. . .100

Map of native tribes, 1684 108

Map of native tribes, 1766 108

Map of native tribes, 1812. .... .110

INDEX.

127

Massac Fort 39

Massacre at Chicago 52

Marquette andJoliet discover the

Mississippi 12

Discover Chicago 15

Marquette winters at Chicago. . . 16
Founds mission on the Illinois. 16

His deah 16

Discovery of his remains 18

Marquette and Joliet's route 121

Mascoutah meaning of the name. 100
Matteson, Joel A., elected Gov-
ernor 70

Menard, Pierre 57

Miamis, their history 106

Michigan Territory 48

Mexican War 69

Moawequa, meaning of the

name 100

Mokena, meaning of the name. .100

Moore, John 68

Morgan, Colonel Geo 38

Mississippi river made western ^l

boundary 4*

Its navigation closed by Spain. 85
Moccasin, meaning of the name. . 100

Montbrun, Timothy 45

Mormons, the 69

Native Tribes classified 102

Neoga, meaning of the name. . .100

N w Design settlement 45

Nokomis, meaning of the name. . 100

Northern C; oss Railroad 68

Nunda, meaning of the name.. .100

Oglesby, Richard J., elected Gov-
ernor 73

Ohio Company..': 29

Oquaka, meaning of the name.. .100

Osage, meaning of the name 100

Oswego, meaning of its name. . .100
Ottawa, derivation of its name. . . 100

Palmer, John M., elected Gov-
ernor 78

Peace of Paris 43

Peoria taken b^ Craig 55

Peotone, meamng of the name.. 100

Perry, Commodore 56

Pinet, Francis 27

Pioneers, American 114

Pittsburg 29

Pontiac 81-32-34

Portage at Chicago 19

Portage at St. Joseph 20

Pope, Nathaniel 57

Pottawattomies, their history. . .109

Posey, Alexander 65

Public Land Surveys 46

Quebec Bill 36-44

Railroads, pioneer 86

Renault, Philip Francis 58

Representatives, Territorial 119

Reynolds, John, elected Governor 67

Rocheblave, Governor 30

Rogers, John 42

Rogers. Major Robert 30

Russell, Colonel 53

Rutherford, Larkin 45

Sacs and Foxes, their history 111

Sackville, Fort 43

Sauk trail 122

Schools, law for support of 71

Scott, General Winfield 63-66

Trail of his army 123

Secretary of State, duties of 80

Senators, U. S 120

Settlements 124

Shawneese, the Ill

Somonauk, meaning of the

name 100

8t. Ange 32-34-36

St. Louis, Fort 24

St. Clair, Arthur 47

St. Clair, first county in Illinois. 47

Shabena 63

Shelby, Governor of Kentucky. 53

Slaves in Illinois 58

State Bank chartered 67

State Board of Equalization 81

State internal improvements 67

Starved Rock 24

Sterling, Captain 35

Street, General 65

Superintendent of Public In-
struction 80

Tablet of History 123

Tamaroa, mission at 27

Triylor, Z. , repulsed 56

Tenure of office 81

Thevenot's map 18

Thomas, Jesse B 57

Tippecanoe, battle of 50

Toad, John, Governor of Illinois 44

Tonty 19-21-23-24

Tonica, meaning of the name. . .100

Township officers 82

Trunk lines of railroad 88

Tuscola, meaning of the name. . .100

128

INDEX.

Vandalia 68

Vigo. Francis 42

Vin(!cnnes 41-48

Virginia cedes the Northwest to
the United States 46

Warof 1812 50

Washington brothers 29

Wapeila, meaning of the name. .100
Wauconda, meaning of the

name 101

Wells, Captain 53

Washbume, E. B 71

Wftukegan — ^Derivation of its
Name 101

Western posts retained 51

Webb, James Watson 128

Wilkins, Colonel, Chovemor of

Illinois 86

Whiteside, General 64

Winnemac 62

Winnebagos, the Ill

Winetka, meaning of its name. • . 101

Women eligible to office 88

Wyanet, meaning of the name. . .101

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